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INIGO    JONES    AND    WREN 


OR 


THE  RISE  AND   DECLINE 

OK 

MODERN  ARCHITECTURE  IN   ENGLAND 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2009  with  funding  from 

NCSU  Libraries 


http://www.archive.org/details/inigojoneswrenorOOIoft 


STAIkCASK,   ASUnUKNHAM    HOUSE.      liV   INICO  JONES. 


INIGO  JONES  AND  WREN 


OR 


RESERVEi 


THE  RISE  AND  DECLINE 


MODERN  ARCHITECTURE  IN  ENGLAND 


BY 


W.   J.   LOFTIE 


AUTHOR    OF    '  A    HISTORY    OF    LONDON,      ETC. 


NEW    YORK 
MACMILLAN    AND    CO. 

1893 


WITHDRAWN   p^ 
eUFPALO 
••UBUIC   LIBRARY 


PREFACE 

It  is,  perhaps,  necessary  to  explain  why  the  term  "  Palladian  " 
is  here  chiefly  used  for  the  kind  of  architecture  practised  by 
Inigo  Jones  and  Wren,  to  which  the  following  pages  relate. 
The  only  other  possible  word,  "renascence,"  or  "  rennaissance," 
is  not  sufficiently  definite,  and  has  moreover  a  foreign  sound. 
Some  people  speak  of  "Queen  Anne,"  but  the  style  was  in 
vogue  here  in  the  time  of  Queen  Anne's  great-grandfather, 
nearly  a  century  before  her  glorious  reign.  The  art,  as 
described  by  Palladio,  and  as  practised  by  himself  at  Vicenza, 
and  by  his  contemporaries  and  followers  in  Venice,  Padua, 
Genoa,  Florence,  Rome,  and  many  other  places,  is  easily  recog- 
nised. Its  influence  was  nowhere  more  marked  than  in 
England,  which  indeed  may  be  termed  its  second  home,  and 
where  it  flourished  even  better  than  in  its  birthplace.  The 
French,  though  their  writers  refer  to  the  fact,  seem  never  to 
have  cared  for  it  as  we  have  done  ;  and  the  work  of  their  great 
architects,  Mansard,  Perrault,  Le  Mercier,  and  their  fellows, 
differs    in    many    important    particulars,    nay,    in    fundamental 


99515 


viii  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

principles,  from  that  of  Inigo  Jones,  Wren,  Burlington,  or 
Chambers,  whose  art  was  essentially  English,  though  founded 
on  Italian.  As  the  word  "  Palladian  "  then  conveys  a  definite 
idea  and  is  moreover  easy  to  pronounce,  and  as  after  much 
seeking  I  have  found  no  other  name  so  suitable,  I  hope  I  may 
be  excused  for  using  it.  "  Queen  Anne "  has  a  limited, 
"  Italian  "  an  unlimited  meaning.  True,  the  faults  of  Palladio, 
as  set  forth,  not  so  much  in  his  drawings  as  in  his  actual 
buildings,  are  easily  discovered,  though  they  hardly  concern  us 
here.  He  was  careless  of  details,  his  ornaments  are  often 
coarsely  cut,  and  though  he  had  laid  down  such  exact  rules  for 
proportion  he  was  always  ready  to  break  them  himself  when 
occasion  arose.  It  is  perhaps  this  freedom  as  much  as  anything 
which  recommended  his  views  on  the  Italian  style,  itself  founded 
on  the  Roman  and  that  on  the  Grecian,  to  the  admiring  notice 
of  posterity.  There  can  be  but  little  doubt  that  the  publication 
of  his  book  in  1570  led  to  its  adoption  here,  as  representing 
learned  or  classical  art  as  distinguished  from  Gothic. 

Another  excuse  or  apology  I  have  also  to  make.  This  book 
is  not  written  for  architects,  nor  is  it  by  an  architect.  My 
earnest  hope  in  launching  it  upon  the  world  is  that  it  may  reach 
some  of  those  by  whom  architects  are  employed.  I  do  not 
doubt  my  critics,  if  I  have  any,  will  object  that  I  have  not  used 
the  correct  terms  in  describing  the  architectural  features  of  some 
buildings.      But   I   have  been  advised  that  such  terms  are  often 


Preface  ix 

only  a  puzzle  to  the  general  reader  ;  that,  as  he  is  not  about  to 
design,  they  are  superfluous,  and  that  much  talk  about  friezes, 
triglyphs,  drops,  modillions,  architraves,  entablatures,  and  so  on, 
would  only  be  a  weariness  and  interrupt  the  course  of  the 
narrative  or  argument.  At  the  same  time,  in  several  cases,  I 
have  added  a  more  complete  and  technical  account  of  any  object 
which  seemed  to  require  it. 

I  should  conclude  this  preface  by  saying  that  as  I  was  writing 
the  last  lines  of  my  last  chapter,  the  book  on  the  question. 
Is  Architecture  a  Profession  or  an  Art  ?  was  put  into  my  hands. 
I  feel  obliged  to  agree  with  nearly  every  word  of  it,  and  especi- 
ally with  Mr.  Norman  Shaw's  essay.  I  am  glad  to  find  so  many 
architects  ready  to  recognise  the  place  and  importance  of  art  in 
design  ;  and  though  the  volume  came  out  too  late  to  be  of  any 
advantage  to  me,  I  feel  it  is  a  cause  of  deep  satisfaction  that  so 
powerful  a  movement  should  have  been  made,  and  by  such 
eminent  artists,  to  lay  down  distinctly  the  very  principles  on 
which  every  chapter  of  this  book  has  been  written.  I  cannot 
but  think  that  before  long  the  employers  of  architects  will  be 
brought  to  see  that  beauty  in  design  is  better  than  ornament, 
and  far  less  costly. 

I  am  not  an  architect,  as  I  have  said,  but  a  member  of  the 

general  public,  though  I  belong  to  a  profession  the  members  of 

which  as  a  class  give  the  most  employment  to  architects.      I 

ought  perhaps  to  apologise  for  venturing,  even  after  many  years 

b 


X  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

of  study,  to  address  the  public  on  the  subject ;  but  however 
eminent  an  architect  may  be,  it  is  not  the  architect  but  his 
employer,  the  amateur,  who  is  entitled  to  make  the  final  decision  ; 
and  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  much  if  not  all  of  the  bad  building 
of  the  day  is  due  to  the  ignorance  or  indifference  of  the  archi- 
tect's employers. 

I  have  endeavoured,  1  hope  with  success,  to  unravel  the 
history  of  Inigo  Jones's  two  great  designs  for  Whitehall, 
which  have  so  completely  puzzled  previous  writers,  and  I  have 
endeavoured  also  to  apply  similar  principles  to  the  elucidation 
of  the  different  schemes  made  by  Wren  for  St.  Paul's. 

The  illustrations  are  mainly  from  the  plates  published  during 
the  golden  age  of  English  Palladian.  They  are,  however, 
largely  supplemented  by  photographs,  especially  of  those  charm- 
ing buildings  of  the  transitional  period  which  are  to  be  found  in 
the  west  country,  and  where  the  Bath  stone  forms  such  a  ready 
vehicle  for  the  expression  of  poetry  in  stone.  Mr.  R.  Wilkinson, 
of  Trowbridge,  has  obligingly  placed  the  results  of  many  years' 
photography  at  my  disposal,  and  I  beg  to  thank  him  warmly. 
The  London  Stereoscopic  Company  have  also  permitted  me  to 
have  copies  made  from  their  productions,  and  I  beg  very 
gratefully  to  acknowledge  their  courtesy.  The  two  prints  from 
the  works  of  Inigo  Jones,  which  were  published  by  the  Society 
for  Photographing  Remains  of  Old  London,  I  owe  to  the 
kindness  of  Mr.  Alfred  Marks. 


to 


If) 
CO 


CONTENTS 
I 

INTRODUCTION 

Modern  Gothic — Windsor  Castle — Palace  of  Westminster — New  Law  Courts — 
Detail  and  Proportion — Salisbuiy  and  Chichester — The  City  of  London — 
Ornament — Architectural  Teaching — A  Contrast — Churches — Gothic  Churches 
— Wren's  Churches — Novelty — The  Anomalous  or  Eclectic  Style — The  chief 
want  of  Modern  Architecture  .....      Page  3  ' 


II 

THE   DECAY  OF  GOTHIC 


"  An    arch    never    sleeps " — Progress    of    the     Pointed    Arch — Objects    of   Gothic 

Builders — Flat    Arches — Rules — Modern     Imitations — The    Albert    Memorial 

N*  — The  last  Gothic — The  so-called  "  Debased  Style  " — Late  Gothic  at  Oxford 

<J  — The  Staircase   at  Christ  Church — The  Tom  Tower — Late  Gothic  at  Cam- 

f  bridge — Bath    Abbey — Hospital    at    Corsham — Charles    Church,    PljTiiouth — 

Hampton    Court — "Peter    Torrysany" — St.   James's    Palace — Middle   Temple 

Hall — Inigo  Jones — Wren     .  .  .  .  .  .19 


xii  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

III 

ELIZABETHAN  ARCHITECTURE 

A  Time  of  Change — A  New  Style — Elizabethan  Houses — Examples — The  Irregular 
Type — The  Regular  Type — Haddon  Hall  and  Longleat — The  Duke's  House, 
Bradford — Cheshire  Houses — John  of  Padua — The  Masons — Lord  Burghley. 

I'agc  5  I 

IV 
THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  PALLADIAN 

The  Beginnings  of  Palladian — The  First  Examples — Tombs  by  Torregiano — Sir 
Anthony  Browne's  Monument  —  Mantelpieces  —  The  Royal  Exchange  —  Caius 
College — Recent  X'andalisms — The  Gates  of  Humility,  \'irtue  and  Knowledge, 
and  Honour — Palladian  in  Fashion — John  Shute — Lomazzo — Birth  of  Inigo 
Jones — Gothic  and  Palladian — Palladio — Vitruvius — Proportions  of  the  ]irincipal 
Orders  ........  79 

V 
INIGO   JONES 

A  List — Parentage  and  Name — Birth  and  Baptism — Visits  Italy — A  Landscape 
Painter — Proportion — In  Denmark — With  Prince  Henry^ — A  Scene  Painter — 
Surveyor-General — Numerous  Drawings — Method  of  Working — Stage  Experi- 
ence— Arch  Row,  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields — Greenwich — Somerset  House — York 
House — Jones  and  Stone — New  Palace  of  Whitehall — Design  for  James  I. — 
Design  for  Charles  I. — The  Banqueting  Hall — A  Reredos — Old  St.  Paul's — 
St.  Paul's,  Covent  Garden — Ashburnham  House — Country  Houses — School  of 
Inigo  Jones — Death  and  Burial  .  .  .  .  .109 

VI 
WREN 

Wren  and  Oliver  Cromwell— Wren  and  Webb— The  Chapel  of  Pembroke  College, 
Cambridge — The  Sheldonian  Theatre— The  Library,  Trinity  College,  Cambridge 
— Wren  at  Paris — The  Great  Fire — Windsor — Chelsea — Greenwich— The 
Monument — Hampton  Court — Kensington     .  .  .  .  151 


Contents  xiii 

VII 
WREN'S   CHURCHES 

Obnoxious   to    Bishops  —  Many    destroyed  —  Method    of    procedure Case    of    St. 

Anthohn's— A  Monstrous  Falsehood — Classification — St.  Paul's— Court  Influ- 
ence— A  Protestant  Design  — An  Artificial  Design— Decorations  — Parish 
Churches — Two  principal  Patterns— Domed  Churches— Gothic  Churches. 

Page  177 

VIII 
THE   SUCCESSORS  OF  WREN 

Vanbrugh—Hawksmoor—Gibbs— James  — Archer — Burlington  — Campbell  — Kent 
—Taylor— Chambers— Adam— Wood  of  Bath— Baldwin— Palladian  in  the 
Provinces— Dublin— The  Bank— The  Four  Courts— The  Custom  House- 
Trinity  College— Barr>''s  Club  Houses— The  Grecian  Style— The  Reign  of 
Stucco — The  New  Gothic — Conclusion  .  .  .  .  215 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Staircase,  Ashburnham   House.      By   Inigo  Jones.     From  a  Photograph  by 

the  Society  for  Photographing  Remains  of  Old  London      .  .    Frontispiece 

Church  of  St.  Mar>'-le-Bo\v,  by  Wren,  with   the  Norman   Crypt.      From  the 
Print  pubhshed  by  the  Society  of  Antiquaries 

South  Wraxall.      From  a  Photograph  by  Mr.  R.  Wilkinson  . 

Saloon,  South  Wraxall.      From  a  Photograph  by  Mr.  Wilkinson 

Almshouse,  Corsham,  Wilts.      From  a  Photograph  by  Mr.  Wilkinson 

Charles  Church,  Plymouth.      From  a  Photograph 

Gallei-y,  Haddon  Hall.     From  a  Photograph  by  the  Stereoscopic  Company 

Jaggard's    Manor-House,    Corsham,    Wilts.       From    a    Photograph    by    Mr. 

Wilkinson        ....... 

The  Duke's  House,  Bradford-on-Avon.     From  a  Photograph  by  Mr.  Wilkinson 

Longleat.      From  a  Photograph  by  Mr.  Wilkinson    . 

Stewart  iNIonuments,  Ely  Cathedral.      From  a  Photograph    . 

South  Wraxall.      From  a  Photograph  by  Mr.  Wilkinson 

Gate  of  Honour,  Caius  College.      From  a  Photograph 

Thieni  Palace,  Vicenza.      From  Ware's  Palladia 

Almerico  Palace,  Vicenza.      From  Ware's  Palladia  . 

Mocenigo  Palace.      From  Ware's  Palladia  .... 

Proportions  of  Ionic,   Corinthian,  and  Composite  Columns.      From  Ware' 

Palladia  ....... 

Palace  of  Whitehall.     As  designed  by   Inigo  Jones,  1619.      From   Miiller' 

Print  .....•■• 
Lincoln's  Inn  Fields.     From  a  Photograph  by  the  Society  for  Photographing 

Remains  of  Old  London  ..... 

Part  of  Court,   showing  Banqueting  Hall,  WTiitehall.      From   Kent's  Inigo 

Jones .  .  .  ■  ■  ■  ■  •  .123 


25 
29 
37 
41 
57 

61 

65 
69 
81 

85 

89 

100 

loi 

102 

103 


117 


XVI 


Modern  Architcctiiye  hi  England 


Portion  of  Design,  Whitehall.      From  Kent's /wl^f/w/cf 

Portico,  Old  St.  Paul's.      From  Kent's  Inigo  Jones  . 

Covent  Garden,  Church  and  Piazza.      From  Vitruvius  Britannicus,  vol.  ii, 

Cobham  Hall,  Kent.      From  a  Photoyrnph  .... 

Brympton.      From  a  Photograph  by  Mr.  Wilkinson 

Coleshill.      From  Vitruvius  Britaiinicus,  vol.  v.         . 

Greenwich  Hospital.      From  a  Photograph  .... 

Part  of  Wren's  First  Design  for  Greenwich.    From  Vitruvius  Britaiiiiicus^  \ol.  i 

Greenwich  :  Vanbrugh's  Work.     From  a  Photograph 

The  West  Prospect  of  St.  Paul's  Church.      From  Vitruvius  Britiinnicus,  \ol.  i 

St.  Paul's  Cathedra!  :   Wren's  First  Design  .... 

St.  Lawrence  Jewry.      From  a  Photograph  hy  the  Stereoscopic  Company 

East  Front  of  Blenheim.      From  Vitruvius  Britivmicus,  vol.  i. 

Public  Buildings  at  Cambridge.      By  James  Gibbs    . 

St.  Mary-le-Strand.      By  Gibbs         ..... 

Spencer  House,  Green  Park.     By  Vardy.     From  I'itruvius  Brita?iiiitus,\o\.  \\ 

House  by  Lord  Burlington  for  General  Wade.      From  Vitruvius  Britannicus 

vol.  iii.        ■      . 
Dormitory,  Westminster  School.      By  Burlingloii.      From    Kent's  liiigo  Jone 
Assembly  Rooms,  York.     By  Burlington.     From  I'itruvius  Iiritannicus,\o\.\\ 
Burlington  House.     From  Vitruvius  Britannicus,  vol.  iii. 
Gate,  Burlington  House.      From  Vitruvius  Britannicus,  vol.  iii. 
Wrotham,  Middlesex.      By  Isaac  Ware.      From  Vitruvius  Britannicus,  vol.  v 
Villa,  Chiswick.      By  Lord  Burlington.      From  Kent's  Inigo  Jones     . 
Section,  Chiswick.      By  Burlington.      From  Kent's  Inigo  Jones 
Holkham,  Norfolk.      By  Kent.      From  Vitruvius  Britannicus,  vol.  v. 
South  Front,  Kcdleston.      By  Adam.      From  Vitruvius  Britannicus,  \ol.  i\-. 
Kedleston.      By  Adam.      From  Vitruvius  Britannicus,  vol.  iv. 
Prior  Park,  Bath.      From  a  Photograph  by  Mr.  Wilkinson    . 

Reform  and  Carlton  Clubs,   Pall  Mall.      From  a   Photograph   by  the  Stereo 
scopic  Company  ...... 

Church  at  Glasgow.      By  Thomson.      P'rom  a  Photograph     . 


PACE 
129 

137 

141 

•45 
161 

165 
181 
185 
189 
205 
217 
223 
225 
231 

235 
239 
243 
247 
251 

255 
2S9 
263 
266 
269 
269 


275 
278 


INTRODUCTION 


J. 


CHURCH  OF  ST.  MAkV-LEliOW,  BY  WKliN,  WITH  THli  NORMAN  CRYPT. 


I 


INTRODUCTION 

Modem  Gothic — Windsor  Castle — Palace  of  Westminster — New  Law  Coufts — 
Detail  and  Proportion — Salisbur>'  and  Chichester — The  City  of  London — 
Ornament — Architectural  Teaching — A  Contrast — Churches — Gothic  Churches 
— Wren's  Churches — Novelty — The  Anomalous  or  Eclectic  Style — The  chief 
want  of  Modem  Architecture. 

It  may  be  assumed  without  much  proof  that  the  modern 
attempt  to  revive  Gothic  architecture  has  been  a  failure. 
Unfortunately,  the  influence  of  the  movement  has  told  also  on 
other  styles.  Up  to  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  while 
the  old  Gothic  was  still  alive  it  was  progressive.  It  never 
rested.  It  was  always  seeking  and  often  finding  improvement. 
The  architects  of  the  first  buildings  in  the  pointed  style 
bequeathed  their  traditions  to  their  pupils,  and  the  chapel  of 
Henry  VII.  is  lineally  descended  from  Salisbury  Cathedral. 
In  the  modern  Gothic  there  was  no  such  tradition.  An 
architect  sat  down  to  design.  He  did  not  say,  "  I  will  try  if  I 
can  improve  on  my  last  work,  or,  on  the  work  of  my  pre- 
decessor." Quite  the  contrary.  He  said,  "  I  will  design  this 
building  in  the  style  of  the  thirteenth  century.  I  will  design 
that  one  in  the  style  of  the  fourteenth.  This  church  shall  be 
Decorated.  That  church  shall  be  Perpendicular."  All  this 
was  essentially  false  in  art.     We  should  laugh  at  a  painter  or 


D.    H.    l-iii_i_    LioriAHY 
North  Carolina  State  Colleiee 


Modern  Architecttire  in  En  <y land 


05  ' 


a  composer  who  went  to  work  in  this  way.  Gothic  architecture, 
nevertheless,  found  favour  with  many  people  of  taste,  and  was 
eagerly  taken  up  by  architects.  The  reasons  are  easily  found. 
The  great  patrons  of  art  hoped  to  obtain  buildings  like  those  of 
the  past.  They  thought  architects  who  tried  to  imitate 
mediaeval  buildings  would  be  able  to  build  as  Bishop  Poore, 
or  as  William  of  Wykeham  built.  But  the  architects  constantly 
disappointed  their  employers.  The  revival  has  not  produced 
one  really  good  or  beautiful  building.  The  best,  strange  to 
say,  is  Windsor  Castle,  which  is  universally  abused  as  bad 
Gothic.  It  may  be  so,  indeed  it  would  be  hard  to  say  it  is  not, 
but  Windsor  Castle  is  essentially  picturesque,  and  in  this  it 
stands  alone  among  the  efforts  of  the  modern  Goth.  Viewed 
from  a  distance,  it  is  a  fair  form  in  a  fair  landscape.  Viewed 
near  at  hand,  it  certainly  has  its  faults  of  detail.  The  windows 
of  Salvin,  and  the  so-called  "  restorations  "  of  Scott  have  not 
improved  it;  but  from  the  gateway  of  Henry  VIII.  to  the 
uttermost  verge  of  the  east  front,  it  is  a  long  series  of  pictur- 
esque and  scenic  arrangements,  one  feature  enhancing  another, 
and  affecting  the  mind  of  the  visitor  as  no  other  modern 
building  can,  whether  Gothic,  Grecian,  or  Palladian. 

It  is  necessary  here,  however  painful,  to  notice  some  other 
results  of  the  Gothic  revival.  Of  these,  the  most  successful  is 
the  Palace  of  Westminster.  No  doubt  it  is  marred  by  many 
grievous  faults,  but  it  affords  us  a  clue  to  the  general  failure 
of  this  new  Gothic  style  —  a  style  I  have  elsewhere  called 
Vandalic,  to  distinguish  it  from  the  original  pointed  style,  with 
which,  however,  I  have  no  special  concern  just  yet.  The 
Palace  of  Westminster  is  successful  in  two  respects.  Wherever 
Sir    Charles    Barry    gave   way    to    the    Palladian    tradition,    in 


Introduction  5 

which  he  had  been  brought  up  and  Hved  till  then,  he  was 
successful.  Wherever,  on  the  other  hand,  he  gave  way  to 
the  new  Gothic  teaching,  he  failed.  This  can  be  proved  in  a 
moment.  The  river  front  is  allowed  by  all  to  be  the  worst 
feature  of  the  whole  design.  Here  his  Palladian  instincts 
would  have  prescribed  an  imposing  central  mass  with  wings, 
not  of  necessity  absolutely  symmetrical.  Instead,  as  the  eye 
travels  toward  the  centre,  the  building  becomes,  or  seems  to 
become,  which  is,  of  course,  precisely  the  same  thing,  lower 
and  lower,  meaner  and  meaner ;  and  the  fine  proportions  of 
the  end  towers  are  abandoned  and  lost.  The  successful  parts 
of  the  building  are  those  in  which  proportion  has  been  most 
carefully  calculated.  The  square  tower,  with  its  grand  double 
archway,  and,  in  the  interior,  the  lobbies  of  both  houses,  and 
the  houses  themselves,  have  proportions  of  the  simplest  and 
best  kind.  The  lobbies  are  cubes,  and  the  houses  are,  or  were, 
— for  the  House  of  Commons  has  been  altered, — double  cubes. 

Another  great  Gothic  building  is  a  still  greater  failure. 
The  one  fine  external  feature  of  the  new  Law  Courts  is  the 
lofty  gable  of  the  central  hall ;  but  it  is  so  masked  and  interfered 
with  by  the  crowd  of  minor  buildings  which  surround  it  and 
block  it  up,  that  it  can  hardly  be  distinguished.  The  interior  of 
the  hall,  though  too  gloomy,  is  unquestionably  very  fine,  but 
here,  too,  the  absence  of  proportion  makes  it  look  smaller  than 
it  is,  and  robs  it  of  much  of  its  effect. 

The  teachers  of  the  new  Gothic  said,  in  short,  that  pro- 
portion could  take  care  of  itself — that  detail  was  everything. 
This  is  the  doctrine  of  Mr.  Ruskin.  It  was  the  doctrine  of 
Sir  Gilbert  Scott  and  of  Augustus  Pugin.  As  a  consequence, 
we    have    such    buildings  as    the    St.    Pancras    Hotel    and    the 


6  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

Albert  Memorial  covered  with  ornament,  but  far  indeed  from 
beine  themselves  ornamental.  The  heraldic  shields  on  the 
river  front  of  the  Houses  of  Parliament,  alone  must  have  cost 
as  much  in  thought,  design,  skill,  and  money  as  would  have 
made  the  front  ornamental,  without  so  much  as  a  moulding. 
But  this  attention  to  detail,  this  substitution  of  shadow  for 
reality,  was  characteristic  of  the  work  of  the  whole  school.  Mr. 
Ruskin,  for  example,  entitles  his  great  architectural  essay  The 
Stones  of  Venice,  and  the  name  exactly  describes  the  book. 
The  bitterest  scoffer  could  not  have  done  it  better.  The 
teaching  is  to  think  of  the  stones,  of  the  marble,  the  porphyry, 
the  carving,  the  colour,  the  minute  points  of  sentiment,  and  let 
everything  else — building,  proportion,  mass,  stability,  lightness — 
take  care  of  themselves.  This  was  not  the  teaching  of  the 
real  Gothic  architects.  Look  at  Salisbury  Cathedral  for  an 
example,  though  it  is  a  late  work  of  the  Early  English  School. 
Though  for  a  hundred  years  past  a  long  succession  of  architects 
of  the  modern  so-called  Gothic  School,  from  Wyatt  to  Scott, 
have  done  their  worst,  they  have  not  been  able  to  rob  the 
church  of  its  admirable  proportions.  Nothing  short  of  absolute 
destruction  can  do  that.  We  have  a  case  in  point.  The  spire 
of  Chichester  Cathedral — a  building  almost  contemporary  with 
Salisbur)^  and  in  some  respects,  though  on  a  smaller  scale,  so 
like  it  that  a  local  proverb  says,  the  master  built  Salisbury,  the 
man  built  Chichester — fell  down  bodily.  Scott  was  entrusted 
with  the  rebuilding.  Every  safeguard  that  could  be  devised 
was  set  up  to  prevent  his  altering  any  detail  of  the  old  steeple. 
But  he  eluded  the  vigilance  of  his  employers,  and  changed  the 
proportions  with  disastrous  effect ;  nor  was  it  possible  to  per- 
suade him  that  a  mere  raising  of  the  tower  a  few  feet,  a  mere 


Introduction  7 

lowering  of  the  spire,  could  in  any  way  influence  the  result. 
The  details,  the  tracer)',  the  mouldings  are  all  the  same  :  these 
in  Scott's  mind,  no  doubt,  were  the  essentials  ;  but  the  tower  of 
Chichester  Cathedral,  as  the  citizens  fondly  remembered  it,  is 
a  thing  of  the  past. 

The  pernicious  influence  of  this  teaching  has  spread  itself  far 
beyond  the  boundaries  of  the  modern  Gothic  style.  A  walk 
through  the  City  of  London  is  a  painful  exercise  to  any  architec- 
tural critic  on  this  account.  Millions  have  been  lavished  durine 
the  past  few  years  on  new  buildings, — piles  of  offices,  and  banks 
for  the  most  part, — nearly  the  whole  of  the  City  has  been  rebuilt, 
and  money  has  evidently  been  no  object  in  comparison  with 
magnificence  ;  and  yet  it  may  be  safely  asserted  that  not  more 
than  three  buildings  possess  any  quality  which  would  leave  them 
even  tolerable  if  stripped  of  their  ornamental  details — polished 
granite,  coloured  marbles,  gilded  bronze. 

The  fault,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  is  not  wholly  that  of  the 
modern  architect.  It  lies  in  the  want  of  taste  of  the  architect's 
employers.  \\'ren  or  Inigo  Jones  would  starve  at  the  present 
day.  Neither  of  them  thought  of  ornament  as  an  end  in  design. 
No  Stones  of  Venice  existed  in  their  day  to  wax  eloquent  over 
the  undercutting  of  a  moulding  or  the  meaning  of  a  sculptured 
bracket.  The  architect  who  wants  to  be  successful  must  please 
his  public.  If  his  public,  like  Swift's  Yahoos,  gloat  on  shining 
and  coloured  stones,  why  should  he  trouble  himself  to  see  that 
they  have  good  classical  proportions  ?  There  are  three  pairs  of 
pillars  side  by  side  on  the  slope  of  a  hill  in  Piccadilly.  They 
are  all  of  polished  Syenite,  all  in  the  Tuscan  Doric  style,  and 
each  pair  as  we  descend  is  a  little  longer  than  its  predecessor. 
The  effect  is  more  than  frightful.     It  is  aggressively  hideous,  like 


8  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

the  instruments  of  an  ordinary  German  band  all  tuned  in 
different  keys.  Even  if  any  one  pair  of  the  pillars, — so  elastic  is 
this  Tuscan  Doric,  Wren's  favourite  style,  for  a  reason  I  shall 
endeavour  to  state  further  on, — might  look  well  by  itself,  the  three 
pairs,  "tuned,"  so  to  speak,  "in  different  keys,"  set  the  teeth  on 
edge.  The  pursuit  of  ornament  for  its  own  sake  is  not  therefore 
to  be  wholly  attributed  to  the  architects  of  the  day.  True,  the 
teachers  of  the  young  architect  are  able  to  do  nothing  for  the 
education  of  his  taste.  They  were  themselves  brought  up  on  the 
principles  of  the  modern  Gothic  style.  They  have  no  chance  of 
learning,  still  less  of  teaching,  anything  better.  A  short  while 
ago  I  made  a  careful  inspection  of  the  drawings  submitted  by 
the  younger  generation  of  architects  for  an  important  prize. 
There  was  one  Palladian  design — it  was  for  a  town  house — in 
which,  though  it  was  far  from  perfect,  the  student  had  drawn  his 
inspiration  from  Burlington  or  Wren.  This  drawing,  which 
showed  no  ornaments,  was  not  even  mentioned  by  the  judges. 
The  prize  went  to  a  design  which  was  wholly  devoid  of  propor- 
tion, wholly  devoid  of  "style,"  wholly  commonplace  and  vulgar; 
but  the  conipetitor  had  plastered  his  work  all  over  with  friezes, 
with  mouldings,  with  wreaths,  busts,  jars,  urns,  and  especially 
with  bosses  of  coloured  and  polished  granite  and  marble.  He 
hit  the  taste  of  the  day,  the  taste  which  has  given  us  the  new 
Natural  History  Museum,  the  Imperial  Institute,  St.  Thomas's 
Hospital,  and  scores  of  other  buildings  in  which  ornament,  the 
more  anomalous  the  better,  is  predominant,  style  and  proportion 
nowhere. 

If  by  any  means  taste  could  be  improved,  even  a  little,  not 
so  much  in  the  architects  as  in  their  employers,  there  would 
be  some  hope  for  the  future  of  English  architecture.     The  supply 


Introduction  9 

of  good  design  would  speedily  rise  to  the  demand.  But  the  rich 
man  in  want  of  a  house  deliberately  prefers  what  is  bad.  In  the 
Bayswater  Road  there  is  at  this  moment  an  example  which  seems 
as  if  it  had  been  specially  constructed  for  my  use  here.  I  will 
not  refuse  it.  About  twenty  years  ago,  an  architect  who  under- 
stood his  art  built  a  house  facing  Kensington  Gardens,  and, 
being  really  an  architect,  not  a  mere  ornamental  builder,  he  , 
made  it  what  a  moderately  large  town  house  ought  to  be — plain, 
solid,  well-proportioned,  but  without  any  exterior  ornament,  or 
anything  to  attract  and  retain  London  soot.  Driving  past,  one 
always  looked  out  for  it  as  an  oasis  in  a  desert  of  stucco  and 
brown  brick.  There  came  a  rich  tradesman  and  built  a  house 
next  door.  It  has  carvings,  wrought  and  cast  iron  railings,  oriel 
windows,  bulls'  eyes,  and  a  medley  of  architectural  features  of 
all  kinds  mixed  up  in  a  frantic  but  futile  effort  to  attain  the 
picturesque.  One  almost  pities  the  architect.  He  has  piled  on 
everything  he  can  think  of — mullions,  broken  pediments,  dormers, 
string-courses,  cornices — and  all  in  vain.  One  thing  is  lacking — 
proportion.  The  plain  house  next  door  eclipses  it  utterly.  It 
is  a  costly  eyesore,  a  thing  to  avoid,  a  house  that  may  be  com- 
fortable enough  to  inhabit  but  is  hideous  to  look  at.  Though 
loaded  with  ornament,  it  is  not  in  the  least  ornamental — very 
much  the  reverse.  When  John  Opie  advised  a  young  artist 
to  mix  his  colours  with  brains,  he  hit  the  ordinary  defect  in 
all  unsuccessful  design,  whether  in  pictures  or  in  architecture. 
The  Gothic  revival  injured  architecture  just  for  the  reason  that 
brains  were  not  necessary  in  order  to  build  as  its  votaries  built. 
All  the  more  difficult  branches  of  the  art  were  neglected.  At 
first  the  public  objected,  and  modern  Gothic  was  not  immediately 
popular.  But  by  degrees  it  superseded  every  other  style  for 
c 


lo  Modem  Architectiiyc  in  E/i inland 


^>' 


churches,  and  even  prevailed  occasionally  for  private  houses  and 
public  buildings.      I    feel  great   hesitation  in  stating  my  opinion 
that  the  style  is  unsuitable,  except  in  one  particular,  for  churches. 
It  is  said  to  be  cheaper  than  any  other,  and  as  churches  have  but 
too  often  to  be  built  where  money  is  scarce,  if  this  is  true  there 
is   little   more  to  be  said.      But  a  handsome  Gothic  church  is  as 
expensive   as  any  other  building  can  be,  and  a  plain  Palladian 
church  like  Wren's  chapel  recently  ruined  at  Cambridge  is  very 
cheap  as  far  as  money  cost  is  concerned,  though  it  is  expensive 
in  thought  and  calculation  and  all  those  other  necessaries  which 
have  become  so  scarce  at  the  present  day.      In  building  Gothic 
churches,  as  for  example  St.    Mary  Abbots  at  Kensington,  the 
architect    has,  in   order    to    make  his  work   look   mediceval,  to 
surround   it  with   chapels   and  side  aisles  and  so  forth  ;  but  he 
builds  them  in  the  same  style  as  the  central  church  itself,  and 
so  at  once  destroys  any  illusion   he   may  have  created,  because 
in    a    genuine    ancient    Gothic    church    the    chapels    must    of 
necessity  be  of  a  different  date  and   therefore   of  a  different 
style. 

But  apart  altogether  from  any  question  as  to  Gothic  examples, 
the  more  abstract  question  remains  as  to  which  is  the  best  style 
for  churches.  For  Roman  Catholic  worship  the  Gothic  style  is 
very  suitable,  though  not  certainly  the  best.  Our  beautiful  old 
English  parish  churches  were  designed  for  the  celebration  of 
masses.  It  may,  however,  be  remembered  that  many  beautiful 
churches,  in  Italy  and  elsewhere,  were  designed  for  the  selfsame 
purpose  in  the  various  forms  of  the  Palladian  style.  But  for 
Protestant  services  one  of  Wren's  patterns,  such  as  St.  Lawrence, 
is  very  preferable.  Wren  used  the  Gothic  plan  for  some  of  his 
finest  efforts  ;  but  even  in  them  it  is  evident  that  he  aimed  at 


Introduction  1 1 

making  a  place  suitable  for  reading  and  preaching,  not  a  place 
suitable  for  the  celebration  of  masses. 

From  this  point  of  view,  modern  Gothic  churches  with  mock 
side  chapels  are  a  failure.  When  we  enter  such  a  church,  we 
see  that  the  chapels  only  exist  on  the  outside.  They  are 
"  ornamental "  features  only.  The  whole  interior  forms  one 
large  chamber  cut  up  into  aisles  by  columns  which  only  serve  to 
intercept  the  view  and  interrupt  the  voice.  Nothing,  as  I  have 
said,  seems  to  me  so  suitable  for  Protestant,  and  especially  for 
Church  of  England  worship,  as  one  of  Wren's  city  churches.  His 
object  always  was  to  accommodate  the  largest  congregation  in 
such  a  way  that  all  should  be  able  to  see  and  hear.  In  this 
respect  the  chapel  of  Pembroke  College,  Cambridge,  came  as 
near  perfection  in  convenience  as  it  was  possible.  When 
convenience  could  be  combined  with  architectural  beauty,  as  in 
St.  Stephen's,  Walbrook,  the  result  was  absolute  perfection. 
Both  these  buildings  have  been  senselessly  altered  of  late  years, 
and  Wren's  proportions  lost,  but  we  can  still  judge  with  an  effort 
of  what  they  formerly  were,  and  wonder  also  that  any  one  calling 
himself  an  architect  could  be  found  willing  to  lay  his  sacrilegious 
hands  on  them  ;  but  it  is  probable  that  in  neither  case  did  the 
architect,  brought  up  in  the  modern  school  of  architecture,  know 
what  he  was  doing;. 

This  brings  me  to  the  last  point  I  need  touch  upon  in  this 
preliminary  chapter.  The  education  of  the  modern  architect 
teaches  him  anything  except  architecture.  He  may  learn  all 
about  specifications.  He  sometimes  knows  beforehand  what  a 
building  will  cost,  though  even  in  this  he  often  fails,  as  in  a 
celebrated  recent  case.  After  the  building,  sanitary  work, 
materials,  and  other  mechanical  parts  of  his  design  have  been 


12  Modem  Ardiitectiire  in  Eii^land 


<b' 


settled,  his  functions  cease.  But  some  there  are  who  aim  at 
novelty.  It  is  this  idea  of  seeking  for  originality  which  gives  us 
the  worst  things  which  deface  our  streets.  A  new  style  has 
unquestionably  been  invented.  It  consists  chiefly  in  a  rebellion 
against  old  authority.  Its  professors,  I  believe,  term  it  "  eclectic." 
It  might  better  be  called  the  anomalous  style.  No  rules  of  art 
exist  which  it  does  not  break.  It  has  hitherto  been  accepted  as 
an  axiom  that  an  architect  should  make  a  chamber  look  larger 
than  it  is,  and  masonry  stronger  than  it  is.  Every  effort  should 
be  used  to  enhance  size  and  give  an  idea  of  security.  The  new 
school  believes  in  none  of  these  things.  A  solid  building,  they 
think,  should  be  made  to  look  as  flimsy  as  possible.  Above  all, 
anything  savouring  of  style  must  be  avoided.  The  new  Town 
Hall  at  Manchester  is  an  excellent  example.  By  contrivances  of 
exceeding  subtlety,  the  architect  has  managed  to  make  it  appear 
so  low  that  you  instinctively  bow  your  head  lest  you  should  hit 
the  roof  You  read  with  surprise  and  incredulity  that  it  is  some 
forty  feet  high  or  more.  It  is  so  cleverly  designed  that  it  does 
not  look  seven.  The  art  of  sinking  in  architecture  is  further 
illustrated  by  the  new  Natural  History  Museum.  It  looks  as  if 
a  breath  would  blow  it  away.  Yet,  for  all  I  know  to  the  contrary, 
it  is  as  solid,  and,  I  fear,  as  durable  as  any  other  building  in 
London.  Mr.  Waterhouse  usually  designs  in  what  I  understand 
he  is  pleased  to  call  the  Gothic  style.  Besides  the  Town  Hall, 
there  are  other  buildings  of  his  at  Manchester,  and  some  also  by 
pupils.  The  Manchester  streets  are  oppressed  by  the  heavy 
mouldings,  the  shallow  windows,  the  general  air  of  having  been 
not  built  but  cast,  that  pervades  all  their  work.  Mr.  Collcutt,  one 
of  the  pupils,  follows  him  after  a  fashion.  I  f  Mr.  Waterhouse  seeks 
to  pick  out  all  that  is  least  to  be  admired  in  Gothic,  Mr.  Collcutt 


Introduction  1 3 

applies  the  same  process  to  the  so-called  Italian  style,  and  we 
have  a  new  theatre  in  Shaftesbury  Avenue,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
Imperial  Institute  at  South  Kensington,  in  which  the  rare 
architectural  features  appear  to  be  chosen  not  for  their  beauty, 
not  for  their  fitness,  but  absolutely  for  their  ugliness.  The 
theatre  occupies  a  place  in  a  circus  and  its  front  is  accordingly 
crescent  shaped,  the  architect  unfortunately  forgetting  that  his 
building  was  to  face  the  north.  There  is  therefore  no  play  of 
light  and  shade,  and  the  front  looks  simply  crooked,  or  as  if  the 
builder  had  been  distracted.  There  is  an  immense  display  of 
absolutely  unmeaning  ornament  culled  from  all  sources.  The 
windows  are  jDlaced  where  they  give  a  feeling  of  weakness,  and 
there  are  oriels  and  turrets  where  they  can  produce  no  effect 
except  to  make  the  whole  composition  look  as  small  as  possible. 
The  result  is  certainly  original.  There  is  not  an  axiom  of 
the  older  architects  that  is  not  violated.  The  theatre 
looks  cheap,  and  is  dear.  It  looks  low,  and  is  tall.  It  is 
covered  with  ornament,  and  is  ugly.  Yet  this  is  the 
"eclectic"  style,  and  the  architect  has  been  commissioned 
to  design  one  of  the  largest  and  most  conspicuous  edifices 
in  the  west  of  London. 

Ignorance  of  the  fundamental  rules  of  proportion,  as  they 
were  understood  by  Inigo  Jones  and  Wren,  is  the  great  fault 
of  the  modern  architect.  His  Gothic  training  has  turned  his 
attention  to  detail  only.  He  thinks  beautiful  or  well-imitated 
parts  must  produce  a  beautiful  whole.  He  flounders  about 
among  small  features  and  is  surprised  to  find  that  the  wildest 
combination  will  not  result  in  picturesqueness,  just  as  pressing 
down  the  whole  key-board  of  a  piano  will  not  give  harmony. 
Until  proportion  is  again  acknowledged  and  sought  for  as  the 


14  Modern  ArcJiitectnre  in  England 

most  needful  thing  in  architecture,  and  as  something  which  may 
be  reduced  to  mathematical  rules  like  those  which  govern  the 
sister  art  of  music,  we  may  have  buildings,  but  we  cannot  have 
architecture.  The  Parthenon  did  not  depend  for  its  beauty 
on  its  sculptures.  Its  frieze  and  pediments  are  in  the  British 
Museum,  yet  it  remains  one  of  the  most  beautiful  buildings  of 
antiquity.  Salisbury  Cathedral  has  gained  no  picturesqueness 
by  the  restoration  of  its  sculptured  ornaments.  St.  Paul's 
would  still  be  what  it  is  in  form  and  majesty  if  all  Grinling 
Gibbons's  flower  wreaths  were  hacked  away.  But  remove  the 
carving  and  the  moulded  brick  from  a  modern  street  front,  and 
what  would  be  left  ?  It  is  a  truism  which  cannot  be  too  much 
insisted  upon  or  too  often  repeated,  that  no  amount  of  ornament 
will  make  an  ugly  building  ornamental. 

If  the  foregoing  remarks  are  just,  unconsciousness  of  pro- 
portion and  harmony  is  the  crying  sin  of  the  modern  architect. 
If  I  could  reach  the  ears  of  the  patrons,  the  employers  of  the 
modern  architect,  I  should  not  have  protested  in  vain.  But  as 
long  as  the  public  taste  is  not  offended  by  such  horrors  as  the 
mock  Gothic  west  front  of  Westminster  Hall,  or  the  mock 
Palladian  of  the  National  Liberal  Club,  or  the  utterly  indescrib- 
able ugliness  of  the  new  School  of  Music,  it  is  of  little  use 
to  preach.  When  sound  taste  prevails,  good  design  will  be 
demanded,  and,  we  may  be  sure,  will  be  produced.  It  exists, 
but  no  one  cares  for  it.  True,  an  architect  lately  announced 
his  brilliant  discovery  that  some  of  our  older  public  buildings 
owed  almost  all  their  charm  to  their  delicate  proportions,  and 
that  he  was  inclined  to  think  that  proportion  would  be  better 
than  ornament  to  beautify  a  building.  So  bold  an  innovator 
was,  of  course,  pooh-poohed.      His  tone  was  considered  almost 


Iiityoduction  1 5 

offensive  to  his  brother  architects,  and  his  views,  if  acted  upon, 
would  necessitate  their  learning  mathematics  and  such  like 
rubbish.  Nevertheless,  there  are  signs  that  both  the 
public  and  their  architects  are  beginning  to  see  the  necessity 
of  proportion,  and  also  the  possibility  of  taking  up  the 
Gothic  tradition  where  it  was  left  by  Wykeham  and  Bray. 
Besides  the  new  church  in  Sloane  Street  by  the  lamented 
Mr.  Sedding,  which  may  be  mentioned  as  one  example 
among  several,  we  may  note  that  lately  a  Soane  medal  was 
given  to  a  young  architect  for  the  design  of  a  chapter  house 
on  similar  principles.  Some  architects  also  have  plainly 
recognised  that  the  Palladian  style  admits  of  an  inexhaustible 
series  of  harmonious  combinations. 

I  know  that  what  I  have  said  may  not  be  well  received  by 
the  ordinary  modern  architect.  I  shall  be  told  that  I  am  flippant 
and  ignorant,  as  I  have  often  been  told  before.  Of  this  kind 
of  criticism  I  can  accept  any  amount  with  equanimity.  As  to 
my  ignorance,  it  is  my  own  concern.  As  to  flijapancy,  I  can 
honestly  assure  any  one  who  does  me  the  honour  to  read  these 
pages  that,  so  far  from  that,  I  am  moved  sometimes  almost  to 
tears  when  I  think  of  what  is  being  done  in  all  directions  under 
the  name  of  architecture.  A  large  building  in  a  provincial  town 
is  greatly  admired  there,  chiefiy  on  account  of  its  size  and  cost. 
I  did  not  offer  my  opinion  on  it,  but  I  suppose  it  would  be 
called  flippancy  that  made  me  reply,  when  asked  direcdy  if  I 
admired  the  architecture,  that  I  saw  no  architecture — only  a 
great  deal  of  mixed  building.  The  new  town  halls  and  muni- 
cipal buildings  in  half-a-dozen  English  cities  are  in  what,  for 
want  of  a  better  term,  must  be  called  the  South  Kensington 
style.      Architectural    e.xhibitions    are    full    of  them    and    their 


1 6  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

unmeaning  details.  All  betray  the  same  absolute  ignorance 
of  architectural  principles,  coupled  with  the  same  feebleness 
when  attempting  to  obtain  picturesqueness.  What,  therefore, 
with  new  buildings,  and  what  with  the  restoration  of  old  ones, 
the  present  prospects  of  sound  architecture  arc  truly  deplorable. 


II 

THE   DECAY   OF   GOTHIC 


D 


II 

THE  DECAY  OF  GOTHIC 

"  An  arch  never  sleeps  " — Progress  of  the  Pointed  Arch — Objects  of  Gothic  builders 
— Flat  arches — Rules — Modern  imitations — The  Albert  Memorial — The  last 
Gothic — The  so-called  "Debased  Style" — Late  Gothic  at  Oxford — The  Staircase 
at  Christ  Church — The  Tom  Tower — Late  Gothic  at  Cambridge — Bath  Abbey 
— Hospital  at  Corsham — Charles  Church,  Plymouth — Hampton  Court — "  Peter 
Torrysany" — St.  James's  Palace — Middle  Temple  Hall — Inigo  Jones — Wren. 

There  is  an  oft-quoted  Arab  proverb  to  the  effect  that  "an 
arch  never  sleeps."  Its  weight  is,  we  know,  constantly  acting 
on  its  supports.  If  they  are  not  strong  enough  to  resist  thrust, 
as  it  is  called,  they  are  pushed  asunder,  and  the  whole  edifice 
eventually  falls  to  pieces.  The  Saracenic  saying  is  true,  in  a 
wholly  different  sense,  of  the  progress  and  development  of 
English  architecture.  The  arch  of  the  mediaeval  Gothic  archi- 
tect never  stood  still.  It  was  always  changing,  sometimes  for 
the  better,  more  often  for  the  worse.  The  round  Norman  arch 
developed  into  the  thirteenth  -  century  lancet.  The  Early 
English  style  gave  way  to  the  Decorated,  and  both  to  the 
Perpendicular.  Finally,  the  Perpendicular  yielded  to  the 
Romanesque,  and  there  is  a  return  to  the  round  arch  of  the 
Norman  period,  modified  by  the  many  accidents  which  marked 
the  course  of  its  long  history.  Between  each  pair  of  Gothic  styles 
there  was  a  transitional  style.       One  kind  of  arch  superseded 


20  Modern  Ai'chitectttre  in  England 

another  very  gradually.  Their  inventors  were  constantly  seek- 
ing for  something,  and  often  seem  to  have  thought  they  had 
already  attained.  But  they  were  never  long  satisfied.  If  we 
inquire  what  it  was  they  so  diligently  sought,  we  may  be  led  to 
some  curious  and  perhaps  unexpected  results.  The  inquir\'  is 
greatly  complicated  by  the  amount  of  sentimental  gush  which 
has  concerned  itself  with  the  origin  and  progress  of  Gothic 
architectural  art.  The  answer,  so  far  as  I  think  I  have  reached 
it,  may  not  commend  itself  to  others,  for  it  abolishes  sentiment 
in  dealing  with  the  subject ;  and,  if  it  is  correct,  it  also  gives 
us  a  reason  for  the  failure  of  the  modern  Gothic  movement  or 
revival  to  fulfil  the  requirements  of  those  who  employ  architects: 
to  obtain,  in  short,  the  confidence  of  the  public.  The  objects  of 
mediaeval  builders  in  England  were  not,  it  seems  to  me,  to  attain 
any  measure  of  mere  beauty.  In  Early  English,  for  example, 
they  did  their  best,  but  they  built  in  a  particular  way  because 
they  could  not  help  it.  They  knew  of  nothing  better,  or  we 
may  be  sure  they  would  have  tried  it.  They  saw  before  them 
exquisite  Norman  work.  The  Galilee  at  Durham,  the  noble 
nave  of  Ely,  the  staircase  at  Canterbury,  were  admirable  to  the 
mind  of  every  lover  of  art.  But  they  noticed  a  serious  defect 
in  it  all.  The  Norman  could  vault  a  narrow  aisle,  but,  in  the 
examples  I  have  mentioned,  and  in  many  more — at  St.  Albans, 
Hereford,  and  Southwell — the  roof  was  Bat  and  of  wood.  There 
were  other  points  which  may  be  neglected  here.  The  great 
thing  was  to  vault  a  wide  space.  This  difficulty  had  been 
surmounted  partially  in  the  little  chapel  of  the  Tower  of  London, 
where  what  may  be  called  brute  force  was  used  to  form  a  vault, 
the  thrust  of  which  was  slight  and  was  amply  compensated  by 
the   narrow  side  aisles  and   by  the  enormous  thickness  of  the 


The  Decay  of  Got /lie  21 

outer  walls.  Then  the  pointed  arch  suggested  itself.  I  do  not 
say  it  was  suggested,  but  it  grew  from  the  attempts  of  Norman 
builders  at  Canterbury  and  in  a  few  other  places,  who  rejected 
the  barrel  vault  of  the  Tower,  made  intersecting  vaults,  and 
found  that  of  themselves  they  took,  in  a  way  more  or  less 
pronounced,  the  pointed  shape.  This  is  the  transition  from 
Norman  to  Early  English.  It  was  soon  found  that  a  consider- 
able lightness  might  be  imparted  to  a  vaulted  building  without 
in  any  way  impairing  its  stability.  The  next  difficulty  was  with 
the  windows.  Glass  was  rare  and  dear.  There  was  no  use 
in  making  openings  only  to  close  them  again  with  stonework 
or  shutters.  So  the  lancet  window  commended  itself  to  the 
designer  of  Salisbury,  and  a  somewhat  different  shape,  in  which 
the  open  space  was  diminished  to  the  utmost  by  so-called  "  plate 
tracery,"  found  favour  at  Westminster  and  in  France.  It  will 
thus  be  seen  that,  so  far  as  we  can  judge,  the  pointed  arch  was 
first  used  not  for  its  beauty  but  as  a  constructional  e.xpedient. 
By  its  use  arches  of  different  spans  could  be  made  of  the  same 
height.  The  first  pointed  style  naturally  gave  way,  when  men 
could  build  better  and  had  better  materials  and  cheaper  glass,  to 
the  Decorated  style,  and  that  again  was  superseded  in  England 
by  the  most  distinctively  English  style  of  all,  the  Perpendicular, 
and  in  France  by  the  Flamboyant.  Both,  as  we  shall  see, 
lent  themselves  easily  to  the  return  of  the  Romanesque,  the 
renascence  which  eventually  brought  in  the  Palladian.  There 
is  thus  a  succession,  without  a  missing  link,  between  the  almost 
savage  power  of  the  Tower  chapel  through  Salisbury  and 
Westminster  to  the  chapel  of  Henry  VII.  and  to  St.  Paul's 
Cathedral. 

But  I  have  not  done  with  the  mediaeval  builder.      I  have 


22  Modern  ArcJiitccturc  in  Ens^land 


endeavoured  to  show  that  the  pointed  arch  was,  in  a  sense, 
forced  on  him  by  circumstances.  With  it  only  could  he  fling 
aloft  those  soaring  vaults  in  which  he  so  delighted.  There  are 
Norman  arches  in  some  places,  as  for  instance  at  Norwich,  as 
tall  as  the  arches  of  Westminster  or  Salisbury,  but  the  pointed 
vaulting  which  crowns  them  only  dates  from  the  fifteenth  century. 
The  builder  of  pointed  arches  and  pointed  vaulting  did  not  use  the 
style  only  because  he  liked  it  best,  but  because  he  had  no  choice. 
Mr.  Stevenson  has  well  said  [Ho2ise  Architecture,  i.  131)  that 
"  by  breaking  the  round  arch  into  two  parts,  attached  by  a  point 
at  the  top,  the  arch  could  be  widened  or  narrowed  like  a  pair 
of  compasses."  When  the  builder  had  a  choice,  he  speedily 
availed  himself  of  it.  That  he  did  not,  at  any  rate,  always 
prefer  it,  is,  I  think,  proved  by  a  consultation  with  one  of  the 
sister  arts.  I  have  gone  through  an  immense  number  of 
illuminated  manuscripts  of  the  thirteenth,  fourteenth,  and 
fifteenth  centuries  without  finding  a  single  pointed  arch 
represented,  except  here  and  there  by  an  accidental  attempt 
to  obtain  a  perspective  effect,  or  where  the  narrowness  of  the 
space  to  be  occupied  has  forced  the  artist  to  point  his  arcading. 
It  is  quite  evident  that  the  Early  English  artist  had  no  special 
bias  in  favour  of  Early  English  architecture,  as  we  call  it.  He 
thought  he  was  building  in  the  Roman  style.  But  further,  the 
tendency  of  every  change,  of  every  transition,  was  not  to  narrow 
the  vaulting  or  to  make  the  arch  more  and  more  pointed.  Quite 
the  reverse  :  every  successive  architect  endeavoured  to  make  his 
arch  wider  and  wider,  and  to  depress  the  point  more  and  more. 
At  last  he  reached  the  cloisters  of  Canterbury  Cathedral.  The 
point  has  nearly  disappeared.  One  step  more  :  at  Gloucester 
it  is  gone.      The  place  formerly  occupied  by  the  pointed  head  of 


The  Decay  of  Gothic  23 

the  vaulting  is  flat.  In  the  chapel  of  Henry  VII.  there  is  no 
example  of  a  really  pointed  arch  :  the  architect  has  attained  the 
goal  at  which  every  successive  architect  from  Poore  at  Salisbury 
to  Bray  at  Windsor  had  aimed.  He  could  build  a  roof  as  flat 
as  the  timber  roof  of  the  Normans.  It  has  been  well  remarked, 
"  The  pointed  arch  had  been  gradually  flattened  till  it  became  a 
straight  lintel."  There  is  a  typical  example  at  South  Wraxall. 
We  may  ask  why  this  had  not  been  done  long  before.  The 
answer,  I  suspect,  lies  in  several  circumstances  with  which  we 
need  not  trouble  ourselves  now,  such  as  improvements  in 
masonry,  in  masons'  tools,  in  quarrying,  in  means  of  transport 
for  large  blocks,  in  machinery,  in  canals  and  roads.  But  the 
moment  the  new  Romanesque  was  presented  to  his  mind  the 
architect  turned  to  it  with  avidity.  It  spread  so  rapidly  that  in 
fifty  years,  or  less,  it  had  taken  nearly  all  England  back  to  the 
place  from  which  it  had  started  three  hundred  years  before.  The 
exceptions,  as  we  shall  see,  were  chiefly  in  the  Universities,  and 
a  few  examples  of  great  interest  also  occur  in  places  where — as 
in  Wiltshire  and  Somerset — the  best  building  stone  was  to  be 
found.  But  unquestionably  the  return  of  Romanesque  was  the 
proximate  cause  of  the  decay  of  Gothic.  The  arch  which  had 
never  slept  was  finally  put  to  rest.  The  Gothic  tradition 
slumbered,  and  slumbers  still,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  the 
modern  so-called  Gothic  school  to  awaken  it. 

An  art  which  has  ceased  to  be  progressive  has  ceased  to 
live.  Had  a  mediaeval  architect  been  told  of  the  "rules"  of 
Gothic  architecture,  he  would  have  directed  all  his  efforts  to 
breaking  them.  Whatever  it  might  cost,  he  was  determined  to 
obtain  the  greatest  effect  he  could  with  the  materials  at  his 
disposal.      He  went  on  from  strength  to  strength.      He  never 


24  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

turned  back.  For  him  there  was  only  one  style,  namely,  the 
best.  There  was  only  one  rule,  namely,  to  make  his  building 
stable.  There  was  only  one  limit,  namely,  material.  He  had 
to  cut  his  coat  according  to  his  cloth.  That  any  one  with  the 
wealth  of  material  at  our  disposal  should  turn  his  back  on 
progress  and  improvement,  and  deliberately  set  himself  to  build 
as  they  built,  say,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  would  have  been 
to  him  a  thing  incredible.  I  saw,  the  other  day,  a  street  front, 
the  upper  part  of  which,  three  storeys  high,  some  twenty-five 
feet  from  the  ground,  was  highly  ornamental,  in  banded  brick 
and  stone.  The  whole  structure,  from  the  aforesaid  twenty- 
five  feet  upwards,  rested  on  an  iron  girder,  supported  only  at 
the  ends.  The  empty  space  below  was  waiting  for  a  shop 
window  of  gigantic  size  to  be  prepared  for  it.  Let  us  suppose, 
for  an  instant,  that  Robert  Poore,  and  William  the  Englishman, 
and  Sir  Reginald  Bray  could  have  had  cast-iron  girders,  to 
what  a  noble  use  they  would  have  put  them.  Their  edifices 
would  have  rivalled  the  pyramids.  As  it  is,  the  modern  architect 
has  been  able  to  make  nothing  of  them,  except  to  build  a  few 
such  monstrous  structures  as  the  Prince  Consort  Memorial  in 
Hyde  Park.  Any  one  with  eyes  can  see  that  not  only  does 
the  memorial  not  look  as  strong  as  it  is,  but  it  looks  as  if  it 
could  not  stand  an  hour.  There  is  an  enormous  and  weighty 
canopy,  in  gables,  surmounted  by  metal  roofing,  carrying  a  lofty 
bronze  spire  ending  in  an  immense  gilt  cross.  This  canopy  is 
supported  on  four  attenuated  columns,  made  of  granite  in  two 
colours,  as  light  and  slender  as  if  they  only  held  up  an  awning. 
The  whole  thing  would  fall  to  pieces  instantly,  but  for  the  iron 
girders  concealed  within  the  masonry  of  the  canopy.  The 
result    is   most  unfortunate.      The  cross  may   stand   for  many 


SOUTH   WR-VXALL. 


The  Decay  of  Gothic  27 

years  ;  as  long,  in  fact,  as  disintegration  from  damp  or  any 
other  cause  does  not  affect  the  iron.  Thus,  then,  the  modern 
Gothic  architect  conceals  his  construction,  builds  a  gigantic 
sham,  and  forgetting  that,  as  I  have  said,  the  true  Gothic  arch 
never  slept,  really  or  metaphorically,  he  expects  his  wonderful 
building  to  be  described  as  in  the  Gothic  style,  and  to  be 
admired  as  an  effort  of  architectural  mesmerism.  It  may  be 
eno-ineerino-,  but  I  deny  that  it  is  architecture.  A  true  architect 
would  have  said  that,  as  such  a  building  would  and  must  look 
unsafe,  at  least  a  semblance  of  buttresses,  even  though  they 
micrht  not  be  at  all  needful,  should  be  added,  if  only  to  prevent 
the  sightseer  from  being  afraid  to  approach. 

A  few  examples  of  this  kind  show  how  futile  it  was  to 
try  to  revive  a  style  that  depended  entirely  on  circumstances 
which  have  now  ceased  to  influence  architecture.  When  a 
litde  engineering  can  make  such  a  structure  as  the  Albert 
Memorial  stand  upright,  and  when  a  vault  can  be  built  of 
any  required  width  or  height,  the  necessities  and  principles 
of  the  thirteenth  century  are  no  longer  active  forces.  It 
is  as  utterly  hopeless  to  try  to  revive  them  as  to  try  to 
revive  the  thirteenth  century  itself.  But  if  our  architects, 
on  discovering  what  those  principles  were,  had  applied  them 
to  the  improvement  of  their  own  art,  who  can  tell  what  they 
might  have  done?  Instead,  they  have  chosen  to  imitate  the 
old  work,  to  forget  that  "the  arch  never  sleeps,"  and  as  a  con- 
sequence, which  most  of  us  are  inclined  to  regret  deeply,  they 
have  discredited  Gothic  in  the  minds  of  the  general^  pubHc, 
while  they  have   themselves   made   no    progress   in   originality 

or  skill. 

The  old  succession  of  Gothic  architects  did  not  die  out  until 


■  D.  H.  Hii-J-  i_ia«ARY 

North  Carolina  State  Coilene 


28  Modern  Architecture  in  Emrland 


the  modern  so-called  revival  had  actually  commenced.  Perhaps 
the  very  last  work  not  of  the  nature  of  a  restoration  which  was 
designed  according  to  what  was  left  alive  of  the  true  Gothic 
tradition  was  the  north  transept  of  Westminster  Abbey.  It 
was  very  recently  destroyed,  under  the  name  of  "restoration," 
a  name  of  such  terrible  meaning  in  the  history  of  architecture. 
It  was  dated  1722,  and  was  built  under  the  influence  of  Sir 
Christopher  Wren.  The  architect  employed  is  generally  said  to 
have  been  a  pupil  named  Dickenson,  but  Wren  expressly  men- 
tions the  design  as  his  own.  By  1722,  the  year  before  Wren's 
death,  he  saw  it  finished.  The  western  towers,  finished  in 
1 735,  show  that  the  flicker  of  twelve  years  before  had  finally  died 
down  and  gone  out — in  London,  at  least ;  for  about  the  same  time 
Hawksmoor  was  doing  excellent  Gothic  work  in  Oxford  at  All 
Souls'.  It  is  not  difficult  to  show  that  the  work  at  Westminster 
was  carried  out  on  the  old  tradition.  If  we  take  Cardinal 
Wolsey,  in  Hampton  Court,  and  in  the  Hall  and  some  other 
buildings  which  he  designed  at  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  as  the 
last  professor  of  Gothic  before  the  irruption  of  the  full-blown 
Italian  or  Palladian  style,  we  can  follow  the  succession  to  Inigo 
Jones,  Wren,  and  Hawksmoor  without  a  break.  At  Cambridge 
the  old  style  also  flickered  long,  but  its  influence  is  less  clearly 
marked.  At  Oxford,  the  dissolution  of  the  monastic  orders,  and 
the  promulgation  of  the  reformed  religion,  found  many  great 
Gothic  designs  actually  in  progress  ;  and  gave  an  impetus  to 
others.  Wolsey's  college  was  not  complete  at  his  death  in  1530  ; 
but  one  architect  after  another  carried  on  the  work,  some  of 
them,  no  doubt,  great  ecclesiastics,  to  whom  the  old  traditions 
came  through  Wolsey  from  William  of  Wykeham,  as  part  of  the 
liberal  education  of  the  day.     Wadham  College  continued  and 


D 
O 


o 
o 


The  Decay  of  Gotliic  3 1 

improved  the  buildings  bequeathed  to  it  by  the  Austin  Friars  ; 
but  the  typical  example  is  Brasenose,  where  the  pointed  and 
round-headed  arches  appear  side  by  side  ;  and  most  picturesque 
effects  are  produced,  in  a  kind  of  transitional  style  which  certainly 
does  not  deserve  the  epithet  of  "  Debased"  bestowed  on  it  by 
Mr.  Bloxam  and  other  respectable  authorities.  The  interior  of 
the  chapel,  though  much  "  restored,"  is  particularly  pleasing  and 
picturesque.  Much  of  this  college  dates  from  the  reign  of  Henry 
VIII.  and  his  immediate  successors,  before  the  end  of  the  six- 
teenth century.  St.  Alban's  Hall,  adjoining  Merton  College, 
was  built  in  1600,  and  is  a  good  example  of  this  delightful  style. 
Oriel  is  a  little  later.  The  Bodleian,  in  its  several  parts,  is  of  a 
very  composite  character,  much  of  it  having  the  old  Gothic 
feeling,  with  a  few  pointed,  but  more  round  arches,  here  and 
there  breaking  out  into  Classical,  but  preserving  a  unity  in  its 
delicate  beauty  not  to  be  surpassed.  The  architect  chiefly  em- 
ployed seems  to  have  been  Thomas  Holt  of  York,  who  designed 
much  else  at  Oxford,  where  he  died  in  1624.  University 
College  is  mainly  in  the  same  style,  but  a  little  earlier ;  for  the 
tower  over  the  entrance  is  known  to  have  been  built  by  the 
master  Hamsterley,  while  Henry  VIII.  was  still  on  the  throne. 
Some  further  building  was  in  progress  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth, 
much  of  it  with  pointed  arches. 

A  most  interesting  paper  on  the  late  Gothic  of  Oxford  was 
read  in  1850  before  the  Royal  Archaeological  Institute,  by  Mr. 
Jewitt,  who  added  a  list,  arranged  chronologically,  of  those 
buildings  whose  date  he  was  able  to  verify.  He  is  certainly  not 
too  enthusiastic  when  he  characterises  some  of  them  as  "highly 
picturesque,"  and  adds  that  the  occasionally  incongruous  details 
"produced  great  richness  of  effect."     He  specially  names  and 


32  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

illustrates  the  Bodleian  Library,  which  I  have  spoken  of  above. 
The  mixture  of  styles  is  very  apparent  in  the  gateway  of  the 
schools;  but  Mr.  Jewitt  judiciously  observes  that  when  every 
other  trace  was  lost,  the  windows  still  retained  their  Gothic  form, 
or  their  Gothic  tracery. 

The  inner  quadrangle  of  Merton  College  is  said  to  have  been 
built  by  Bentley,  one  of  the  builders  of  the  schools.  The  chapel  of 
Exeter  College,  built  in  1624,  contained  some  beautiful  windows  ; 
but  it  was  unfortunately  pulled  down  in  favour  of  a  design  by 
Sir  Gilbert  Scott  in  1868. 

Among  the  best  known  of  these  late  Gothic  designs  at  Oxford 
are  the  staircase  and  entrance  gateway  at  Christ  Church  and  the 
garden  front  of  St.  John's.  The  staircase  is,  in  fact,  one  of  the 
most  admired  buildings  in  the  whole  University.  Peshall  has 
reported  that  it  was  designed  by  a  London  architect  named 
Smith.  I  cannot  help  hazarding  the  guess  that  by  Smith  he 
must  have  meant  Jones.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  staircase,  with 
its  tall  slender  pillar  and  fan-work  vaulting,  was  certainly  built  in 
1640,  for  Dr.  Samuel  Fell,  who  was  then  dean.  We  know  that 
Inigo  Jones  was  building  at  Oxford  in  the  Gothic  manner  in 
1635  ;  and  the  beautiful  garden  front  of  St.  John's,  with  its 
exquisite  oriel  windows,  is  certainly  his,  and  was  designed  for 
Archbishop  Laud.  We  shall  see,  in  enumerating  the  London 
buildings  of  this  style,  that,  though  perhaps  not  so  authoritatively, 
the  names  of  the  archbishop  and  the  architect  were  connected 
there  about  the  same  time.  It  seems  strange  that  Smith  of 
London  should  have  been  practising  in  a  method  so  exactly  like 
that  of  Jones  of  London,  at  the  very  same  time,  or  within  four 
years,  and  both  at  Oxford.  It  should  be  noted  that  Peshall  calls 
Smith  an  "  artificer,"  not  an  architect.      In  which  case  the  design 


The  Decay  of  Gothic  33 

might  be  Fells  ;  or  a  supposition  may  be  true  which  was  hazarded, 
to  the  effect  that  Wolsey  left  a  design  which  Smith,  at  Fell's 
instance,  carried  out.  But  the  style  of  the  vaulting  is  very 
different  from  that  Wolsey  used  in  the  adjoining  church,  where 
there  are  groining  ribs,  as  in  the  chapel  at  Hampton  Court. 
There  are,  strictly  speaking,  no  ribs  in  the  staircase.  We  find 
fan-work  vaulting  at  Hampton  Court,  but  it  is  not  of  Wolsey 's 
time  ;  and  even  if  Wolsey  had  left  a  design,  it  would  have  been 
carried  out  in  the  style  of  the  time  of  Fell.  The  probability  that 
he  left  working  drawings  which  Fell's  artificer  could  use  seems 
to  me  extremely  slight  ;  and  judging  by  Inigo  Jones's  work  at 
St.  John's  and  other  fragments  of  Gothic  at  Oxford  in  which 
Wolsey  could  not  possibly  have  had  any  hand,  it  is  safer  to 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  Fell,  or  Smith  or  Jones  for  him, 
designed  the  Christ  Church  staircase. 

Building  seems  to  have  been  almost  or  quite  at  a  standstill  at 
Oxford  during  the  Civil  War  and  the  Commonwealth.  True, 
the  chapel  of  Brasenose  was  founded  in  1642,  but  it  was  not 
finished  till  after  the  Restoration.  The  Library  was  opened  in 
1663,  and  the  chapel  of  University,  begun  in  1639,  was  conse- 
crated in  1665.  The  fan-work  in  this  college  is  somewhat  like 
that  of  Christ  Church,  and  must  be  of  about  the  same  time  or 
later,  thus  helping  us  to  bridge  over  the  period  which  elapsed 
between  the  building  of  the  staircase  and  that  of  the  "  Tom 
Tower  "  and  the  entrance  gate. 

This  beautiful  building,  one  of  the  glories  of  the  University, 
has  never  received  the  admiration  to  which  it  is  entitled.  Re- 
garded from  the  historical  point  of  view,  it  is  interesting  as  one 
of  the  last  attempts  at  Oxford  to  carry  on  the  old  Gothic  tradi- 
tion which  Wren  had  inherited  and  had  strengthened  by  his 

F 


34  Modern  Architecttirc  in  England 

practice  on  some  of  the  churches  of  the  burnt  city  of  London. 
From  the  artistic  point  of  view,  it  is  equally  worthy  of  notice.  It 
is,  in  fact,  almost  impossible,  as  we  view  it,  to  avoid  the  perfectly 
futile  speculation  as  to  whether  Wren  might  not  have  designed 
a  still  grander  dome  of  St.  Paul's  in  the  style  which  he  chose  for 
Christ  Church.  Naturally,  this  building  does  not  appeal  to 
critics  of  the  modern  schools  of  Gothic.  It  is  no  imitation  of 
the  thirteenth  or  of  the  fifteenth  century.  But  it  is  what  so 
few  of  the  architects  of  the  past  fifty  years  have  succeeded  in 
grasping — an  application  of  the  strictest  rules  of  harmony  and 
proportion  to  the  Gothic  form  carried  forward  and  upward  by 
a  genius  in  its  maturity  which,  as  we  shall  see,  even  in  its 
beginnings  "touched  nothing  that  it  did  not  adorn." 

There  is  a  place  in  all  great  art,  whether  that  of  Raphael, 
of  Handel,  or  of  Wren,  to  mention  only  three  mighty  names, 
in  which  genius  and  experience  meet  and  coalesce.  Sir 
Gilbert  Scott  or  Mr.  Street  could  not  admire  a  building  at 
once  so  purely  original  and  so  obviously  oblivious  of  the  rules 
and  regulations  which  they  had  laid  down  as  necessary  to  the 
Gothic  style.  But  Wren  perceived  what  they  did  not :  that  art, 
to  be  living,  cannot  stand  still — that,  in  short,  as  we  have  so  often 
had  occasion  to  remark,  the  arch  never  sleeps.  It  is  curious  to 
read  the  following  sentences  in  some  very  pertinent  remarks  by 
the  late  Mr.  Burges  on  the  sister  art  of  heraldry.  They  are  in 
the  volume  of  Gleanings  from  Westminster  Abbey,  where  he 
observes  that  in  the  thirteenth  century  people  were  hardly  so 
particular  about  the  details  of  a  shield  of  arms  as  they  became 
at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  "  ivhcn,  like  other  arts  in  a  state 
of  decay,  it  became  a  science. ''  It  is  curious  that  the  writer  never 
perceived  that  in  this  sentence  he  condemns  the  methods  of  the 


TJie  Decay  of  Gothic  35 

whole  school  of  architects  of  which  he  himself  was  such  a  brilliant 
member.  The  "  Tom  Tower  "  was  built  expressly  for  the  re- 
ception of  the  old  bell  of  Oseney  Abbey,  called  "  Great  Tom  of 
Oxford,"  and  is  in  every  way  appropriate  to  its  purpose.  It  is 
octagonal  in  plan,  with  an  ogee  cupola  of  charming  proportions, 
and  is  as  much  a  feature  in  every  view  of  Oxford  as  the  tower 
of  Magdalen,  and  the  dome  of  the  Radcliffe  Library. 

One  other  building  in  the  Gothic  style  is  almost  as  conspicuous 
as  the  "  Tom  Tower."  It  is  considerably  later,  but  shows  Wren's 
influence  strongly.  This  is  the  double  tower  and  front  in  the 
north  quadrangle  of  All  Souls'  College  by  Hawksmoor.  As  we 
enter  the  college,  we  are  welcomed  by  a  charming  little  domed 
porch  in  a  style  which  can  only  be  described  as  that  of  Wren  at 
Christ  Church.  The  two  towers  and  the  adjoining  buildings 
may  well  have  received  the  approval  of  the  master,  as  they  were 
in  full  progress  several  years  before  Wren's  death.  Ingram, 
writing  about  sixty  years  ago,  is  quite  enthusiastic  about  them. 
"  Nothing,"  he  says,  "can  exceed  the  astonishing  effect  produced 
by  the  assemblage  of  so  many  striking  objects  as  are  here 
blended  in  one  magnificent,  though  not  harmonious  whole. 
Many  of  its  component  parts  will  not  bear  criticism  ;  yet  who 
can  stay  to  criticise  them  ?  The  graduated  stages  of  Hawks- 
moor's  diminishing  turrets,  together  with  other  characteristics, 
exhibit  a  fantastic  air  of  continental  Gothic ;  but  they  seem  to 
disdain  all  comparison,  and  to  stand  in  unrivalled  stateliness, 
challenging  our  admiration."  Undoubtedly,  these  towers  and 
the  adjoining  buildings  form  a  worthy,  and  indeed  splendid  con- 
clusion to  the  long  list  of  fine  Gothic  buildings  at  Oxford. 

It  had  not  lingered  so  long  at  the  sister  university.  The 
tower  of  "  Great  St.  Mary's  "  at  Cambridge  was  designed  by 


36  Modern  ArcJiitecturc  in  England 

John  Warren,  in  or  before  1608.  It  has  little  merit,  though  it 
is  131  feet  in  height.  The  chapel  of  Peterhouse  was  begun  in 
162S  by  Matthew  Wren,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Ely,  the  uncle 
of  Sir  Christopher.  The  curious  gable  ends,  with  a  kind  of 
pediment,  contain  very  simple  perpendicular  windows,  the 
general  effect  being  unquestionably  picturesque,  and  very 
superior  to  the  mock  Gothic  of  Gisborne  Court,  built  in  1825. 
The  grand  chapel  of  King's  College  was  not  complete  in  1524, 
when  it  would  seem  that  Italian  workmen  were  introduced  ;  and 
the  wood  carving  shows  strong  traces  of  their  handiwork, 
affording  the  same  picturesque  effects  of  contrast  as  we  see 
in  parts  of  the  chapel  of  Henry  VII.  at  Westminster.  Some 
further  work  in  panelling,  much  more  Gothic  in  design,  was 
put  up  as  late  as  1595. 

Some  of  the  most  interesting  buildings  in  the  slowly  dying- 
style  are  naturally  to  be  found  where  good,  easily  carved  oolite 
abounded.  Great  Chalfield  Manor- House  is  in  genuine  Per- 
pendicular Gothic,  having  been  built  in  or  about  1490.  The 
manor-house  of  South  Wraxall,  already  mentioned,  a  couple 
of  miles  off,  shows  in  its  purely  Perpendicular  gateway  an 
example  of  a  perfectly  flat  lintel.  The  Gothic  tradition  was 
further  kept  alive  in  this  neighbourhood  by  the  gradual  com- 
pletion of  Bath  Abbey,  as  it  is  called.  It  was  in  hand  in 
1499,  but  was  not  finished  till  1616  ;  the  style  being  preserved 
throughout  without  deviation.  It  is  too  uniform,  too  featureless, 
to  be  very  interesting.  So  completely,  however,  did  the 
architect  get  rid  of  any  feeling  of  the  necessity  of  pointing  the 
openings  that  the  great  east  window  is  actually  square,  or,  as 
it  is  sometimes  termed,  cottage -headed,  though  it  is  50  feet 
high  and  20  feet  wide. 


D 


D 

O 


The  Decay  of  Gothic  39 

One  of  the  latest  buildings  in  which  the  Gothic  tradition 
ruled  the  design,  is  in  the  same  oolitic  region.  This  is  the 
Hungerford,  properly  the  Halliday  Hospital,  a  little  almshouse 
with  a  chapel,  at  Corsham,  a  few  miles  from  Bath.  It  contains 
no  pointed  arches,  but  is  purely  Gothic.  The  windows  of  the 
chapel  have  mullions,  and  an  attempt  at  tracery,  and  over 
each  is  a  dormer,  which  has  a  singular  effect.  A  similar 
and  very  interesting  effect  was  produced  by  the  building  of 
a  side  aisle  and  gallery  in  the  parish  church,  but  was  scrupu- 
lously removed  at  the  "restoration"  a  few  years  ago.  The 
porch  of  the  hospital  has  an  attempt  at  Ionic  pillars  on 
either  side  of  the  doorway.  Above,  and  also  on  the  north 
front,  are  shields  of  arms,  and  an  inscription  from  which  we 
are  surprised  to  learn  that  the  date  of  the  building  is  1668.  The 
almshouse  was  founded  by  a  widow  who  is  described  as  "  Lady 
Margaret  Hungerford,"  and  who  evidently  intended  it  more 
as  a  memorial  of  her  father  and  her  grandfather  than  of  herself 
or  her  husband,  Sir  Edward  Hungerford  of  Corsham  Court. 
She  was  the  daughter  and  coheir  of  William  Halliday,  or 
Hollyday,  an  alderman  and  sheriff  of  London  in  161 7,  by 
Susan,  his  wife,  daughter  of  Sir  Henry  Rowe,  or  Row,  Lord 
Mayor  in  1607.  The  arms  of  Halliday  are  represented  above, 
with  the  crest  and  a  little  shield  of  Hungerford  higher  up  still. 
The  Halliday  arms — three  helmets,  and  the  motto,  "  Quarta 
Salutis  " — are  an  excellent  example  of  Jacobean  heraldry. 

The  whole  of  this  region  abounds  in  old  houses  and  churches 
containing  monuments  worthy  of  the  architect's  study.  It  is 
common  to  fix  a  date  for  the  discovery  and  introduction  of 
oolite  as  a  building  stone  ;  but  it  was  used  here  from  time 
immemorial ;  and  here,  as  we  have  just  seen,  the  Gothic  tradition 


40  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

continued  to  linger  even  after  the  outward  form  had  been  wholly 
changed. 

At  Fulmer,  in  Buckinghamshire,  there  is  a  Gothic  church, 
Ijuilt  in  1610,  of  brick,  which  shows  that  even  where  there  was 
no  stone  the  old  custom  still  obtained. 

A  very  interesting  church  is  at  Plymouth.  It  is  generally 
said  to  have  been  consecrated  in  honour  of  "the  Blessed  King 
Charles  the  Martyr,"  but  this  is  a  mistake.  The  parish  in  which 
it  stands  was  separated  from  St.  Andrew's  by  Act  of  Parliament 
in  1640,  and  designated,  after  the  name  of  the  reigning  King, 
"the  parish  of  Charles."  The  church  is  therefore  not  "the 
church  of  the  Blessed  King  Charles,"  but  "the  church  of  the 
parish  of  Charles."  It  bore  this  name  all  through  the  Civil  War 
and  the  Commonwealth  down  to  the  Restoration.  It  was  com- 
pleted in  1657,  according  to  an  inscription  on  the  tower,  so  that 
we  have  here  an  example  of  a  building  in  the  Gothic  style 
commenced  on  the  eve  of  the  Civil  War  and  carried  to  com- 
pletion under  the  rule  of  the  Protector.  The  authorities  of 
Plymouth  are  not  worthy  of  the  interesting  church  in  their  care. 
A  determined  attempt  has  been  made  during  many  years  at 
intervals  to  Gothicise  its  features,  and,  unfortunately,  with  but 
too  much  success.  It  is,  therefore,  difficult  to  obtain  a  view  in 
which  its  true  merits  may  be  fully  discerned.  The  proportions 
are  more  carefully  calculated  than  is  usual  in  ancient  Gothic  work, 
and  still  less  in  its  modern  imitation,  the  relation  of  height  to 
width  in  the  nave  being  especially  satisfactory.  Most  of  the 
windows  have  had  pointed  openings  forced  upon  them,  but  this 
is  not  so  apparent  within  as  without.  A  row  of  arches,  only  one 
of  them  pointed,  divides  the  nave  and  side  aisles,  and  the  roof, 
in  a  barrel-shaped  ceiling,  with   ribs  of  dark  oak,  accords  well 


/ 


The  Decay  of  Gothic  43 

with  the  dehcately  carved  fittings.  The  mouldings  of  the 
arches  are  much  better,  in  undercutting,  than  is  usual  in  the 
modern  mock  Gothic  style  ;  and  the  whole  design,  so  far  as  we 
can  still  judge  of  it,  was  evidently  well  thought  out  by  an 
architect  who  deserves  better  of  posterity  than  to  have  his 
name  forgotten,  and  his  work  handed  over  to  some  modern 
Vandal,  who  thought  he  could  improve  it.  At  Tavistock, 
not  far  off,  is  another  church,  with  an  aisle  in  the  same  style 
dated  in  1670.  There  are  three  aisles  in  late  Perpendicular, 
and  the  fourth,  with  interesting  carved  granite  capitals,  round 
arches,  and  two  south  doors,  is  strictly  Gothic,  in  spite  of  the 
shape  of  the  arches. 

Nearer  London,  the  later  Gothic  was  more  common,  but 
much  of  it  has  disappeared.  Some  has  been  destroyed  bodily. 
Some  has  been  "restored"  out  of  knowledge.  Beginning  with 
the  period  of  the  suppression  of  the  monasteries  and  the  begin- 
nings of  Italian  art  in  England,  we  may  visit  Hampton  Court, 
where  one  of  the  finest  and  most  typical  of  Gothic  buildings  is 
the  Great  Hall.  Here  Italian  details  are  numerous,  but  the  whole 
design  does  not  differ  materially  from  that  of  Eltham  and  other 
halls  of  earlier  date.  Mr.  Law,  in  his  History  of  Hampton  Court 
(i.  155),  shows  that  the  architect  in  all  probability  was  Henry 
Williams,  a  priest,  who  was  "surveyor  of  the  works."  Mr. 
Gotch,  in  a  paper  read  before  the  Architectural  Association  in 
March  1892,  has  proved  that  "surveyor"  meant  the  same  as 
architect,  and  shows  that  this  is  the  Shakespearean  use  of  the 
word  i^Henry  IV.,  pt.  2).  It  subsisted  at  least  until  the  time 
of  Sir  Christopher  Wren.  The  strong  similarity  of  the  hall  at 
Hampton  Court  and  that  at  Christ  Church  suggests  that  they 
are  both  by  the  same  architect.      The  hall  at  Christ  Church   is 


44  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

dated  by  the  best  authorities,  including  Mr.  Papworth  {Renais- 
sance and  Italian,  p.  6),  in  1529  ;  while  that  of  Hampton  Court  is 
known  for  certain  to  have  been  commenced  in  1530.  To  build 
it,  an  older  hall  by  Cardinal  Wolsey  was  pulled  down.  The 
probability  seems  to  lie  in  identifying  Williams  as  an  archi- 
tectural pupil  of  Wolsey,  and  conversant  with  the  principles  on 
which  his  master  would  have  planned  such  a  building.  The 
details,  which  are  very  Italian  at  Hampton  Court,  and  less 
markedly  so  at  Oxford,  would  be  left,  as  Mr.  Gotch  has  pointed 
out,  very  much  to  the  taste  and  fancy  of  the  artists  employed. 
This  w^ould  be  in  strict  accordance  with  the  Gothic  tradition  as 
I  have  endeavoured  to  state  it  above  ;  everything  being  sub- 
ordinated to  the  supposed  necessity  of  obtaining  that  which  was 
thought  to  be  best,  irrespective  of  style  ;  for  critics  and  historians 
of  art  did  not  then  exist,  and  the  possibility  of  two  incompatible 
styles  causing  a  difference  of  opinion  had  not  dawned  on  any- 
body's mind.  We  see  this  state  of  ignorance  and  innocence,  this 
delicious  unconsciousness  of  the  birth  of  questions  which  were 
destined  for  some  three  centuries  to  agitate  the  minds  of  the 
votaries  of  taste,  in  the  thoroughly  Italian  work  of  Torregiano, 
surrounded  by  the  Gothic  grill  of  bronze  by  an  English  artist, 
which  form  together  the  central  feature  of  the  chapel  of  Henry 
VII.  "  Peter  Torrysany,"  as  his  insular  employers  called  him, 
also  made  the  beautiful  but  wholly  incongruous  monument  of 
John  Young,  Dean  of  York,  who  was  Master  of  the  Rolls,  and 
was  buried  in  the  Rolls  Chapel.  The  chapel  itself,  which  dates 
in  part  from  about  15  16,  presents  no  features  of  interest;  but 
John  Young's  tomb  is  one  of  two  or  three  worth  seeing.  The 
chapel  of  St.  Peter  "ad  \'incula "  in  the  Tower  is  another 
example  of  about  the  same   date,   it   ha\'ing  been   rebuilt  after 


The  Decay  of  Gothic  45 

a  fire  in  15 12.  Here  any  characteristic  architectural  features 
have  been  scrupulously  removed  by  successive  "  restorations." 
The  Chapel  Royal,  Savoy,  was  also  built  in  the  early  years 
of  Henry  VIII.,  and  is  distinctly  Gothic  in  style;  but  a  fire 
and  a  "restoration"  have  left  very  little  of  the  old  work  visible. 
The  old  Gothic  gateway  of  Lincoln's  Inn  is  still  standing,  thouo-h 
oft  condemned.  It  was  built  in  i5i<S,  and  has  a  slightly  pointed 
archway.  This,  and  St.  James's  Palace  and  St.  John's  Gate  at 
Clerkenwell,  built  in  1504,  are  the  only  domestic  Gothic  buildings 
left  in  London,  though  some  parts  of  the  Guildhall  maybe  older. 
St.  James's  was  designed  as  a  kind  of  hunting-lodge,  an  out- 
lying appanage  of  Whitehall,  which  itself  was  made  by  Act  of 
Parliament  part  of  the  palace  of  Westminster.  As  palaces,  both 
Westminster  and  Whitehall  have  ceased  to  exist ;  but  St.  James's 
preserves  many  Gothic  features,  chiefly  external.  In  the  Pres- 
ence Chamber,  a  fireplace  bears  the  initials  of  King  Henry  and 
Queen  Anne,  so  that  it  must  have  been  built  between  January 
1533,  when  they  were  married,  and  May  1536,  when  Anne  was 
beheaded  ;  if  indeed  the  initials  do  not  stand  for  those  of  Anne 
of  Cleves,  which  would  make  the  date  1540.  This  date,  with 
the  same  initials,  is  painted  on  the  curious  panelled  ceiling  of  the 
chapel.  There  is  a  legend  to  the  effect  that  both  the  chapel  and 
the  tower  which  fronts  St.  James's  Street  were  designed  by 
Thomas  Cromwell,  the  Vicar-General,  who  was  made  Earl  of 
Essex  in  April  and  beheaded  in  July  of  that  same  year,  1540. 
This  is  also  the  date  of  the  Horse  Shoe  Cloisters  at  Windsor. 
Hans  Holbein  designed  much  for  the  king  at  Whitehall,  but 
whether  he  had  a  hand  in  any  part  of  St.  James's  it  is  not  easy 
to'say,  and  he  died  in  1543.  From  this  time  to  the  end  of  the 
century,  very  few  buildings  in  pure  Gothic  claim  our  notice.     The 


46  Modem  Arcliitcctiirc  in  Iliiglaini 

style  was  evidently  out  of  fashion.  The  age  of  John  of  Padua, 
of  Shute  and  Thorpe,  had  come;  and  in  London  we  can  only  now 
point  to  the  hall  of  the  Middle  Temple,  where,  chiefly  in  the  plan, 
the  Gothic  tradition  survives.  But  the  screen,  and  nearly  all  the 
details,  are  Italian  in  character,  though, as  at  Oxford,  Perpendicular 
tracery  was  still  used  in  the  windows  ;  the  older  fashion  lingering 
longer  among  the  glaziers  and  lead-workers  than  among  the 
wood-carvers.  Glass  was  still  comparatively  scarce  and  dear, 
and  was  made  in  small  pieces,  so  that  leaded  lattice-work  was  a 
necessity.  The  Middle  Temple  Hall  was  finished  in  1572, 
but  after  this,  for  many  years  there  is  no  record  of  a 
Gothic  building  being  erected  in  London.  A  few  examples 
occur,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  country  ;  and  the  old  tradi- 
tion, though  dying,  was  by  no  means  dead.  It  lived  in 
the  oolite  regions  of  Dorset  and  Wilts,  and  was  active 
at  Oxford,  and  in  a  minor  degree  at  Cambridge.  In  many 
places  there  are  examples  where  the  old  style  enters  into  com- 
petition with  the  new,  as  in  the  chapel  of  Bishop  West,  1534, 
at  Ely.  The  chapel  of  Bishop  Longland  at  Lincoln  may  be 
dated  at  1547,  but  was  never  finished.  Signs  of  Renascence 
work  are  very  apparent  in  the  rich  ornamentation.  The  fall  of 
the  religious  houses  had,  no  doubt,  a  discrediting  effect  on  the 
architectural  style  in  which  they  were  built ;  but  a  temporary 
reaction  occurred,  and  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  Inigo 
Jones  actually  preferred  the  Gothic  at  one  period  of  his  career. 
He  had  travelled  on  the  Continent,  and  we  find  him  in  Denmark 
in  1589.  When  the  Princess  Anne  came  from  that  country  to 
wed  King  James,  she  is  said  to  have  brought  him  to  Scotland 
with  her;  and  critics  see  his  hand  in  Heriot's  Hospital  at  Edin- 
burgh.     But  before  Heriot's  can  have  been  even  begun,  Jones 


The  Decay  of  Gothic  47 

had  left  Scotland  ;  and  we  find  him  back  in  Denmark,  whence, 
in  1603,  he  again  seeks  the  English  court,  and  is  appointed 
architect  to  the  Queen,  for  whom  he  designed  the  scenery  of 
masques,  among  other  things.  He  was  in  Italy  before  1604,  and 
at  Oxford  in  1605  ;  but  the  dates  of  his  two  chief  Gothic  buildings 
in  London  must  be  placed  considerably  later.  The  chapel  of 
Lincoln's  Inn  was  much  as  he  left  it,  until  1791  ;  when  it  was 
"restored"  by  Wyatt.  The  cloister  underneath  was  still  intact 
in  1882,  when  it  was  handed  over  to  the  mercies  of  a  wealthy 
amateur,  who  employed  a  Mr.  Salter  to  remove  from  it  as  far  as 
possible  the  traces  of  Inigo  Jones's  hand.  A  description  of  the 
building  by  Mr.  Weale  is  in  his  Neiv  Survey  of  London  (p.  175), 
published  in  1853  :  he  says  of  it  that  "the  side  elevation  of  the 
exterior  plainly  partakes  of  the  boldness,  stateliness,  and  harmony 
of  his  other  designs  ;  and  though,"  he  continues,  "the  petty  exact- 
ness of  later  imitators  may  yet  find  it  convenient  to  make  faults 
of  every  variation  from  precedent  in  the  details,  this  fragment 
has  some  rare  qualities.  We  know  of  no  mediaeval  work,  even, 
in  which  apertures  of  so  low  and  broad  a  proportion  produce,  as 
here,  no  ungraceful  or  mean  effect."  Of  Inigo  Jones's  other 
London  Gothic  work,  Mr.  Weale  has  not  so  high  an  opinion. 
This  is  the  church  of  St.  Katharine  Cree  in  Leadenhall  Street. 
I  unhesitatingly  ascribe  the  design  to  this  architect.  He  had 
already  designed  for  Bishop  Laud  at  Oxford  ;  and  though,  no 
doubt,  the  Bishop  would  dictate  the  main  features  of  the  plan, 
the  rest  of  the  design  would  be  left  to  the  architect.  Laud  may 
have  been  attracted  to  him  by  his  religious  views  as  well  as  by 
his  genius  ;  but  it  is  scarcely  doubtful  that  the  church  is  mainly 
his.  St.  Alban's,  Wood  Street,  was  rebuilt  by  Jones,  but  perished 
in  the  Great  Fire,  when  it  was  rebuilt  a  second  time  by  Wren.     It 


48  Modern  Architectuye  in  England 

has  been  sometimes  suggested,  and  with  plausibility,  though 
without  proof,  that  Wren's  design  was  identical  with  that  of  his 
predecessor.  Like  the  chapel  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  it  has  suffered 
much  at  the  hands  of  the  modern  Vandal,  and  is  now  hardly 
worth  a  visit. 

Of  Wren's  Gothic  work  in  London,  it  will  be  time  enough 
to  speak  further  on.  Suffice  it  here  to  say,  that  it  has  the  same 
sincerity  of  purpose,  the  same  originality,  the  same  straight- 
forwardness as  his  Palladian  work.  That  he  or  any  other  archi- 
tect, conscious  of  the  slightest  creative  faculty,  should  be  content 
to  sit  down,  turning  his  back  on  the  state  of  the  arts  and  sciences 
of  his  day,  and  deliberately  endeavour  to  design  in  a  style  which 
had  worked  itself  out  in  the  thirteenth  century,  would  have  been 
a  thing  altogether  incredible.  It  is  true  that  Wren  imitated  the 
thirteenth-century  architect  in  one  point.  He  tried  to  do  his 
best  with  the  materials  at  his  disposal.  It  has  been  reserved  for 
the  taste  of  the  present  day  to  destroy  his  last,  and  in  some 
respects  greatest  work  in  the  style  ;  but  his  towers  of  St.  INIichael, 
St.  Dunstan,  and  St.  Mary  Aldermary,  in  the  City,  have  of  late 
been  recognised  as  masterpieces  ;  and  it  must  be  the  endeavour 
of  all  lovers  of  what  is  good  and  progressive,  not  imitative  and 
retrograde  in  architecture,  to  insure  their  preservation  for  the 
instruction  and  pleasure  of  generations  who  will  look  upon  the 
short  reign  of  mock  Gothic  as  a  period  of  decay,  falsehood,  and 
destruction. 


Ill 

ELIZABETHAN   ARCHITECTURE 


H 


Ill 

ELIZABETHAN   ARCHITECTURE 

A  Time  of  Change — A  new  Style — Elizabethan  Houses — Examples — The  Irregular 
Type — The  Regular  Type — Haddon  Hall  and  Longleat — The  Duke's  House, 
Bradford — Cheshire  Houses — John  of  Padua — The  Masons — Lord  Burghley. 

While  the  old  Gothic  style  was  flickering  out  in  England, 
architects  found  themselves  very  much  as  they  find  themselves 
now.  Rut,  unlike  the  present,  that  was  a  great  creative  age. 
Originality  was  to  be  seen  everywhere.  The  poets  of  the  day 
were  Shakespeare,  Spenser,  and  a  legion  of  competitors  who 
have  made  so  famous  those  "spacious  times."  It  was  the  same 
in  art.  True,,  Holbein  had  died  in  1543,  but  he  had  founded 
a  school,  and  its  efforts  were  aided  and  directed  by  the  foreign 
artists  imported.  It  was  the  same  in  music.  We  have  never 
heard  sweeter  strains  than  those  first  sounded  by  Merbecke, 
and  Tallis,  and  Lawes.  It  was  impossible  that  architecture 
should  lag  far  behind.  By  one  of  those  curious  coincidences 
which  occur  in  the  history  of  art  as  well  as  in  that  of  any 
other  movement,  while  we  were  most  busily  engaged  in  cutting 
ourselves  adrift  from  the  religion  of  Italy,  we  were  most 
diligent  in  studying  her  architecture.  I  have  endeavoured  to 
show  that  at  first  there  was  no  necessary  antagonism  between 
our  old  Gothic  and  the  new  Palladian.      In   English  buildings 


52   .  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

every  attempt  was  made  to  reconcile  them,  to  adopt  what  was 
best  in  each,  to  construct  what  would  be  at  once  picturesque, 
correct,  and  suitable  for  a  climate  very  different  from  that  of 
Italy.  The  result  was  extremely  satisfactory.  Haddon  Hall, 
the  palaces  of  the  Cecil  family,  the  rooms  now  used  for  the 
Royal  Library  at  Windsor,  and  many  more  of  the  "stately 
homes"  of  which  Englishmen  are  so  proud,  were  designed 
and  built  at  this  epoch.  Mr.  Gotch  lately  read  a  paper  before 
the  Architectural  Association,  in  which  he  endeavoured  to 
answer  the  question  of  how  they  built  in  the  time  of  Shake- 
speare. He  approached  the  subject  from  a  purely  architectural 
point  of  view,  and  came  to  definite  conclusions  as  to  surveying, 
planning,  designing  the  elevations,  "rating  the  cost,"  super- 
intending details,  and  all  the  other  items  which  went  to  make 
up  a  beautiful  house.  I  shall  have  further  occasion  to  refer 
to  this  brilliant  essay,  and  can  only  hope  that  the  architects 
who  heard  Mr.  Gotch  may  lay  some  of  his  tacitly  implied 
counsels  to  heart. 

The  names  of  the  greatest  architects  of  the  day  have  come 
down  to  us  in  sufficient  number  to  enable  a  critic  to  form  an 
opinion  as  to  the  whole  school  and  its  style.  Nothing  valuable 
in  the  old  Gothic  tradition  was  violently  thrown  aside.  A 
more  than  semi-Gothic  hall  existed  still  in  every  great  house. 
Many  other  features  which  had  descended  directly  from  the 
thirteenth  century  were  retained.  In  some  houses,  such  as 
Haddon,  the  old  irregularity  of  outline  was  not  looked  upon 
as  any  defect.  In  others,  as  at  Longleat,  a  facade  almost 
Italian  imparts  stateliness  at  the  cost  of  the  picturesque. 
Architects  were  still  afraid  to  use  the  classical  forms  exclusively, 
and  the  symmetry  of  Hatfield  or  Cobham  was  not  produced  in 


Elizabethan  ArcJiitecture  53 

a  day.  There  was,  however,  no  affectation  about  their  work. 
Window  glass,  as  I  have  had  occasion  to  point  out,  had  a 
strong  influence  on  the  shape  and  size  of  windows.  At  the 
present  day,  we  can  have  a  single  pane  large  enough  to  fill 
a  whole  window,  of  whatever  size.  Then,  the  beautiful  lattice 
work  which  was  part  of  the  old  Gothic  style  was  still  a 
necessity.  The  great  hall,  similarly,  was  retained  as  convenient 
for  a  great  household.  At  Knole,  and  no  doubt  in  all  other 
houses  of  its  class,  there  was  at  mid-day  a  dinner  to  which 
every  one,  from  my  lord  to  "my  lord's  blackamoor,"  sat  down. 
A  long  gallery  was  another  necessity.  It  was  to  be  sunny  and 
light,  as  at  H addon,  giving  easy  access  to  the  garden  in 
summer,  serving  as  a  place  of  exercise  in  winter,  and  well 
warmed  with  more  than  one  great  fireplace,  as  at  Cobham  and 
Loseley.  There  was  found  to  be  less  draught  from  the 
windows  and  doors  of  a  large  chamber  than  from  those  of 
a  small  one  ;  and  so  all  the  reception  rooms  and  many  of  the 
others  were  of  vast  size,  as  at  South  Wraxall,  where  a  com- 
paratively modest  house  has  at  least  three  or  four  chambers  as 
large  as  the  whole  of  a  modern  villa.  The  great  defect  of  all  was 
the  poor  bedroom  accommodation.  It  was  no  unusual  thing  for 
the  whole  of  what  we  should  describe  as  private  rooms  to  be 
accessible  not  from  a  passage,  but  simply  through  other  rooms, 
so  that  to  reach  the  farthest  of  a  suite  the  rest  had  to  be 
traversed.  This  was  in  accordance  with  the  manners  of  the 
day.  There  was  no  privacy.  Every  one  lived  more  or  less  in 
public.  Men,  except  at  court,  kept  their  hats  on.  Women 
wore  hoods  and  head-dresses.  In  bedrooms  without  fireplaces 
warmth  was  insured  at  night,  no  doubt,  by  retaining  a  portion 
of  the  clothes  worn  in  the  day  ;  and  it  was  no  unusual  thing  for 


54  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

two,  three,  or  even  more  persons  of  the  same  sex  to  occupy 
one  bed.  Of  this  coarseness  of  manners  we  have  abundant 
evidence,  into  which  it  is  quite  unnecessary  to  go  here.  The 
life,  as  portrayed  by  Shakespeare,  by  Spenser,  by  Herrick,  even 
down  to  the  comparatively  civilised  times  after  the  Restoration 
of  the  Stuarts,  was  of  a  character  very  different  from  anything 
of  which  we  have  experience  at  the  present  day.  Our  modern 
houses,  however  inconvenient  they  may  often  be,  contain  a 
thousand  items  of  comfort  then  undreamt  of  and  unknown. 
Magnificent  and  beautiful  as  some  of  these  old  palaces  are,  it  is 
only  by  judicious  alterations  that  they  remain  habitable.  When 
Wyatville  went  to  Windsor  Castle,  he  found  a  series  of  towers 
connected  by  a  curtain  wall,  much  as  we  see  the  Bell,  the 
Beauchamp,  and  the  Devereux  Towers  connected  in  the  Tower 
of  London.  All  were  "passage  rooms."  Though  some  were 
wide  and  high,  all  were  inconvenient ;  and  the  royal  family 
lived,  as  described  by  Madame  D'Arblay,  in  a  house  in  the 
garden,  and  only  used  the  older  chambers  on  state  occasions. 
Wyatville,  by  building  the  long  corridor  within  the  line  of 
towers,  made  Windsor  Castle  a  modern  abode.  Something  of 
the  same  kind  has  had  to  be  done  in  many  other  old  houses  of 
slighter  pretensions  ;  and  the  adaptation  of  Longleat,  of  Knole,  of 
Holland  House,  and  of  Cobham  Hall,  to  name  only  a  few,  has 
sometimes  been  a  very  difficult  matter,  and  tried  the  ingenuity 
of  the  best  architects.  Two  or  three  features  are  connnon  to 
nearly  all  Elizabethan  houses.  There  is  always,  as  I  have  said, 
a  hall,  a  gallery,  and  a  withdrawing  room  or  solar.  Most  of 
them  have  also  a  chapel.  Even  in  comparatively  small  houses 
like  Ightham  Moat,  this,  or  at  least  an  oratory,  is  not  omitted. 
At    Knole,  the  chapel   is   very  large,  and   has  a  great  gallery. 


Eli:::abcthaii  ArcJiitecture  55 

approached  by  an  antechapel  at  a  higher  level.  At  Hardwick, 
the  chapel  is  very  small  :  it  is  larger  at  Hatfield  and  Burghley, 
but  appears  to  be  altogether  missing  at  Cobham.  It  may  have 
been  an  early  feature  of  the  house.  There  is  a  good  chapel  at 
Westwood,  another  at  Longleat,  and  one  was  at  Audley  End. 

The  design  of  some  of  these  great  houses  is  highly  irregular. 
This  is  the  case  at  Knole,  Penshurst,  and  especially  at  Haddon, 
where  we  must  remember  that  an  ancient  house  was  added  to  in 
1540  and  the  succeeding  years  down  to  1589.  But  Westwood, 
Hardwick,  Longford,  Cobham,  Hatfield,  Burghley,  Audley  End, 
Eastbury,  and  many  more  are  perfectly  regular,  the  ground-plan 
forming  often  a  letter  E  or  a  letter  H.  Longleat  seems  to  have 
been  one  of  the  first  important  houses  built  in  this  fashion.  It 
was  in  progress  from  1567  to  1578.  The  beautiful  "Duke's 
House"  at  Bradford-on-Avon  belongs  to  the  same  style  and 
period,  and  is  usually  ascribed  to  the  same  architect,  who  may 
have  been  John  of  Padua,  or  even  more  likely,  John  Thorpe. 

It  m^y  be  worth  while  to  examine  more  closely  some 
examples  of  each  kind  ;  the  irregular  naturally  coming  first,  as 
they  are  usually  founded  on  older  buildings.  A  favourite  ■ 
specimen  is  Haddon  Hall,  which  rises  on  a  steep  slope  above 
the  Bakewell  meadows,  and  is  first  seen  among  old  trees  and 
across  green  grass.  The  contour  of  the  ground  materially 
infiuences  the  design,  both  in  elevation  and  in  plan.  It  has, 
besides,  more  of  a  castellated-  appearance  than  other  buildings 
of  the  same  period.  The  entrance  is  under  a  tower  at  the  north- 
western corner  and  admits  the  visitor  to  the  first,  or  lower  court. 
Everywhere  there  are  flights  of  steps, — steps  up  and  steps  down, 
— and  the  picturesque  appearance  of  the  building  is  greatly 
enhanced  at  the  expense  of  its  convenience.      This   lower  court 


56  Modern  Architcctitrc  iii  England 

was  never  intended  for  the  admission  of  a  carriage  ;  and  had  the 
house  remained  a  family  residence,  a  new  main  entrance  would 
have  had  to  be  made,  as  in  other  places.  Probably  this  part  is 
older  than  the  Elizabethan  period.  A  fortified  manor-house  was 
on  the  site  long  before.  The  license  to  crenellate  is  dated, 
according  to  Mr.  Papworth,  in  1199.  Sir  George  Vernon,  to 
whom  the  greater  part  of  the  existing  building  is  attributed, 
came  into  the  estate  as  early  as  15 15.  He  was  more  or  less 
actively  at  work  on  the  house  down  to  the  time  of  his  death  in 
1567.  The  work  was  completed  by  his  successor  in  the  owner- 
ship. Sir  John  Manners,  who  is  said  to  have  eloped  with  Sir 
George's  elder  daughter,  Dorothy.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  exist- 
ing "stage  scenery"  of  the  event,  as  shown  to  visitors,  where 
the  fair  Dorothy  is  made  to  leave  the  gallery,  or  ball-room,  by 
the  anteroom,  and  so  pass  out  to  the  terrace,  cannot  be  accu- 
rately delineated,  for  the  simple  reason  that  this  part  of  the  house 
was  built  by  herself  and  her  husband  after  they  had  long  been 
married  and  had  inherited  the  estate. 

This  great  gallery  is  now  one  of  the  principal  features  of 
Haddon  Hall.  It  runs  west  to  east  along  the  south  side  of  the 
upper  or  second  court,  and  contains  two  bows  and  a  rectangular 
bay  window  15  feet  by  12,  all  deeply  recessed,  so  as,  in  fact, 
almost  to  make  three  separate  apartments.  The  wainscoting 
shows  the  gradual  approach  of  the  Palladian  style,  being  wholly 
different  from  that  in  the  older  parts  of  the  house,  where  Gothic 
still  asserts  itself  Something  very  like  a  composite  capital 
crowns  each  pilaster.  The  ceiling  is  of  plaster  covered  with  a 
beautiful  pattern  of  scroll  work  with  heraldic  shields,  formerly, 
no  doubt,  coloured  and  gilt. 

The  garden,  with  its  terrace,  is  one  of  the   chief  beauties  of 


J 


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Elizabethan  ArcJiitcctiirc  59 

Haddon,  being  a  combination  of  tlie  formal  and  the  natural 
which  commends  itself  to  both  schools  of  afardeners.  The 
arched  balustrading  is  very  characteristic  of  the  Elizabethan 
style,  while  recollections  of  the  Gothic  practice  had  not  yet  been 
wholly  obliterated  by  the  Italian.  Mr.  Blomfield  ( 77;e /"(jrwrt"/ 
Garden,  p.  114)  says  of  the  terraces  at  Haddon  that  they  are 
laid  out  in  four  main  levels:  "At  the  top  is  a  raised  walk  70 
paces  long  by  15  wide,  planted  with  a  double  row  of  lime  trees. 
About  10  feet  below  this  is  the  yew-tree  terrace,  divided  into 
three  plots,  about  15  yards  square,  surrounded  by  stone  curbs, 
with  yew  trees  in  each  angle.  These  were  once  clipped,  but  are 
now  grown  into  great  trees  overshadowing  the  entire  terrace. 
Dorothy  Vernon's  stairs  descend  on  to  this  yew-tree  terrace. 
A  flight  of  twenty-six  steps  led  from  this  terrace  to  a  lower 
garden,  about  40  yards  square,  divided  into  two  grass  plots. 
A  walk  from  this  garden  skirted  round  two  sides  of  a  second 
garden  laid  out  in  three  levels,  and  reached  the  postern  door  in 
the  outer  garden  wall  by  seventy-one  steps  laid  out  in  seven 
entire  flights."  With  regard  to  the  balustrading  of  the  terrace 
mentioned  above,  Mr.  Blomfield  has  some  interesting  notes  : 
"  The  terrace  at  Haddon  has  six  small  stone  arches  to  each  bay. 
The  height  is  3  feet ;  width  from  centre  to  centre  of  piers  1 1 
feet  6  inches ;  the  steps  measure  12  inches  by  5." 

Much  of  Knole  partakes  of  the  irregular  character  of  Haddon, 
the  more  formal  parts  appearing,  like  the  oriel  window  in  the 
first  or  Green  Court,  to  be  purely  Gothic.  Here  the  irregularity 
was  largely  caused  by  the  local  absence  of  good  building  material, 
and  some  of  the  most  picturesque  parts  are  of  wood,  as  for 
example  the  south  or  garden  front.  It  is  strictly  contemporary 
with    Haddon,  and   both  with   Penshurst,  but  the   Elizabethan 


6o  Modern  Architecture  in  Engtand 

buildings  at  Knole  are  attributed  by  Mr.  Papworth  unhesitatingly 
to  John  Thorpe,  on  good  grounds,  I  do  not  doubt.  Penshurst 
and  Haddon  both  look  older  in  places  than  any  part  of  the 
second  or  Stone  Court  of  Knole.  The  hall  at  Penshurst  is 
purely  Gothic,  but  the  entrance  tower  dates  from  1585, 
probably  the  date  of  the  gallery  at  Haddon.  Haddon,  Penshurst, 
and  Knole  are  typical  examples  of  the  irregular  Elizabethan — 
that  which  grew  more  directly  out  of  the  Perpendicular  Gothic, 
and  contains  much  of  it  mixed  up  in  work  of  a  later  type.  The 
hills  of  Gloucestershire  and  Wiltshire  are  dotted  with  smaller 
examples.  Their  characteristic  features  are  the  cross  mullions, 
the  gables,  the  frequently  pointed  doorways,  and  the  sparing  use 
of  classical  pillars  and  pilasters.  The  principal  rooms,  even  in 
mere  cottages,  have  generally  high  carved  mantelpieces,  the 
walls  are  panelled,  the  ceilings  are  of  timber  or  of  ornamental 
plaster,  and  porches  are  numerous,  with  or  without  small 
chambers  above.  In  one  ordinary  manor-house  of  two  sitting 
or  reception  rooms  and  not  more  than  four  bedrooms,  there  are 
five  porches.  The  chimneys  are  often  very  ornamental,  but 
chiefly  where  they  are  of  brick,  those  of  stone  being  compara- 
tively plain.  The  balustrades  of  the  staircases  are  at  first  merely 
rows  of  small  arches,  often  very  ornamentally  treated.  By  degrees 
the  head  of  the  arches  separate,  each  half-arch  becoming  a  kind 
of  bracket  for  the  hand-rail.  Finally,  Init  not  until  the  seven- 
teenth century  was  well  begun,  the  new  Italian  balustrade,  more 
or  less  modified  in  its  translation  into  oak,  came  into  fashion. 
The  curious  visitor  to  one  of  these  old  houses  should  never 
neglect  to  look  for  the  exterior  lead-work.  The  Gothic 
gurgoyle  was  succeeded  by  piping  with,  often,  a  large 
shield  -  shaped    head    on    which    initials,    dates,    and    even,    as 


X 

O 
u 


a 

o 

o 
z 


Elizabethan  Architecture  63 

at    Claverton,    Sherborne,    and    some    other    places,    armorial 
bearings. 

Almost  side  by  side  with  these  delightful  rambling,  irregular 
piles,  half  castle,  half  manor-house,  there  grew  up  a  series  of 
stately  palaces,  such  as  we  see  at  Longleat,  Loseley,  Bramshill, 
Audley  End,  Blickling,  Hardwick,  and  many  other  places  too 
numerous  for  mention.  They  have  very  similar  details  to  those 
of  their  irregular  contemporaries,  and  chiefly  differ  in  the  elabo- 
rate symmetry  of  the  ground-plan.  The  Gothic  tradition  pre- 
scribed that  the  chief  features  of  a  house  should  show  on  the 
outside.  You  can  see  where  is  the  chapel,  where  the  gallery, 
where  the  hall,  and  so  on.  But  in  the  regular  school  it  is  but 
seldom  that  the  visitor  can  say  for  certain  that  a  window  lights 
a  saloon  or  an  oratory,  a  ball-room  or  a  dressing  closet.  To  the 
end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  much  later,  these  symmetrical 
designs  seldom  exhibited  columns  or  pilasters,  but  they  were 
essentially,  in  the  modern  jargon,  "  astylar."  This  treatment 
looked  well  beside  either  the  old  Gothic  or  the  later  Palladian  ; 
Inigo  Jones's  additions  to  Cobham  have  an  effect  as  good  as 
that  of  the  remains  of  the  episcopal  palace  at  Hatfield. 

We  can  easily  understand  the  charm  of  the  new  style  to  the 
minds  of  our  ancestors.  There  were  still  standing  and  inhabited 
hundreds  of  fortified  houses  and  castles,  where  security  was 
sought  to  be  purchased  by  discomfort,  gloomy  and  dark,  with 
the  smallest  possible  space  for  the  living  rooms.  Many  of  the 
less  pretentious  of  the  manor-houses  were  surrounded  by  moats, 
a  constant  source  of  damp  and  disease.  The  castles  disappeared 
for  the  most  part  in  the  Civil  War.  Very  few  were  still  habitable 
when  Charles  II.  was  restored.  We  can  well  believe  that  the 
subjects  of  the  Tudors,  who  remembered  or  had  traditions  of 


64  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

the  hundred  years  of  the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  were  delighted  to 
take  advantage  of  the  peace  and  security  they  enjoyed  ;  and 
though,  so  greatly  to  our  advantage,  some  new  houses  were 
planned  on  the  old  pattern,  but  no  longer  gloomy  and  cramped, 
it  is  easy  to  judge  how  they  must  have  welcomed  the  possibility  of 
building  on  a  regular  plan  with  symmetrical  parts,  and  of  making 
sometimes  the  whole  wall  of  a  great  chamber  or  a  hall  one  con- 
tinuous window. 

Among  the  smaller  houses  in  this  second  Elizabethan  style, 
the  most  perfect  is  that  known  as  "  The  Duke's  House  "  at  Brad- 
ford-on-Avon.  There  are  many  beautiful  buildings  in  and  around 
this  little  town,  and  the  visitor  will  be  charmed  with  the  old 
bridge,  a  mediceval  barn  and  farmhouse  near  the  railway  station, 
a  magnificent  church,  a  wonderful  Saxon  chapel,  several  gabled 
houses  of  considerable  antiquity,  some  excellent  Palladian 
examples,  and  the  Duke's  House.  He  will  also  wonder,  in  the 
midst  of  so  much  that  is  good,  to  see  some  modern  buildings  in 
the  style,  or  no  style,  which  has  sprung  from  the  ruins  of  the  so- 
called  Gothic  revival.  Altogether,  Bradford,  standing  as  it  does 
in  the  midst  of  the  best  oolite  region,  a  place  where  cloth- 
working  brought  prosperity  while  as  yet  there  was  taste  left 
among  us,  is  a  museum  of  architecture.  South  Wraxall  is 
within  a  few  miles.  The  later  domestic  Gothic  is  well  illustrated 
by  Great  Chalfield,  built  before  1490  ;  and,  of  older  remains  still, 
there  are  the  ruins  of  Charterhouse  Hinton,  in  Early  English, 
and  the  George  Inn,  at  Norton  St.  Philip,  in  Perpendicular. 

The  Duke's  House  is  a  little  to  the  east  of  the  town,  on  a 
gentle  slope.  The  front  has  two  storeys,  topped  by  attics  under 
three  gables.  The  central  window  projects  squarely  :  the  side 
windows  are  much   wider,   and   each  projects  in  a  small  semi- 


o 

> 

2 

o 

5 
3 


K 


Elizabethan  ArcJiitecture  67 

circular  bow.     Over  the  windows  is  beautiful  flat  balustrading, 
not  in  the  least  Italian,  yet  not  Gothic.     This  balustrading  is 
typically   Elizabethan  ;   and  on  the  terrace  and  steps  into  the 
garden  it  is  of  the  same  character  but  of  a  different  pattern. 
Between  the  projecting  windows  are  others   flat,  so  that  the 
whole  front  is  taken  up  with  a  series  of  lights,  those  on  the 
ground-floor  being  interrupted  only  by  the  entrance.      These 
windows  are  formed  by  stone  mullions  ;  two  transoms  in  each 
opening  running  along  the   whole   front.      The  chimneys  are 
plain  and  square,  set  corner-wise.     There  are  two  gables  at  the 
side  of  the  house,  with   four  tall,  plain,  double-cross-mullioned 
windows  in  two  storeys.     The  back  is  very  like  the  front,  but 
plainer.     The  entrance  doorway  from  the  terrace  is  the  only 
place  where  we  see  any  Italian  features  ;  two  graceful  but  very 
plain  engaged  columns  standing  on  either  side.      Unlike  so  many 
houses  of  the  period,  the  Duke's  has  no  courtyard,  the  centre 
being  occupied  by  a  wide   newel  stair  :  an   unusual  and   very 
pleasing    feature.      The    rooms    are,    of    course,    magnificently 
lighted,  and  are  high  in  proportion  to  their  size.     The  ceilings 
are  beautifully  decorated  with  plaster  fret-work.     The  house  has 
been  restored,  but  judiciously,  and  has  been  always  kept  in  good 
order.     There  is  not,  except  in  a  kind  of  cresting  over  the  door, 
and  the  balustrades  already  mentioned,  an  inch  of  ornament  any- 
where ;  yet  the  effect  is  ornamental  in  no  slight  degree.     The 
whole  front  is  about   50  feet  high  and  about  60  wide.      The 
balustrade  of  the  terrace  is  described  by  Mr.  Blomfield  (p.  185) 
as  formed  of  panels  of  stone,  3^  inches  thick,  pierced  with  open 
work  of  alternate  lozenges  and  ovals,  with  engaged  balusters  to 
the    piers,  and  stone   urns  of  various  designs.      Of  the  whole 
terrace,  he  tells  us  that  "the  fall  of  the  ground  is  very  sudden, 


68  Modern  ArcJiitecturc  in  England 


but  that  the  difficulty  is  got  ov^er  in  a  very  skiHul  way  "  (p.  104). 
"The  house  is  raised  12.0  above  the  lower  garden  ;  in  front  of 
the  house  is  a  terrace  24  feet  wide,  with  a  flight  of  fourteen  steps 
in  the  centre,  descending  to  a  grass  platform  with  mitred  slopes. 
The  path  runs  to  right  and  left,  and  descends  to  the  lower 
garden  by  flights  of  seven  steps  :  off  this  path,  on  either  side  of 
the  terrace  walls,  two  steps  ascend  to  grass  terraces  27  feet  wide, 
and  52  paces  and  29  paces  respectively,  which  run  under  the 
walls  of  the  upper  gardens  to  right  and  left  of  the  house." 

It  is  easy  to  imagine  the  surprise  and  pleasure  with  which  so 
marked  a  departure  from  precedent  must  have  been  hailed  when 
this  house  was  first  built,  and  the  garden  laid  out.  There  is 
nothing,  except  the  modest  columns  at  the  door,  to  identify  the 
style  as  more  Italian  than  Gothic.  It  is,  in  short,  Elizabethan  ; 
and  from  the  novelty  of  the  plan  and  the  suitability  of  the  whole 
design  to  our  climate,  may  as  well  have  been  the  work  of  Thorpe 
as  of  John  of  Padua.  We  cannot  believe  that  the  architect,  if 
he  came  from  Italy,  would  have  omitted  some  Italian  details 
which  we  fail  to  find.  The  Duke's  House  was  built  for  John 
Hall,  a  wealthy  merchant  of  old  family  in  the  town,  between 
1567  and  1579,  and  passed  eventually  into  the  possession  of 
Evelyn  Pierpont,  Duke  of  Kingston,  a  great  magnate  in  the 
reign  of  George  I. — hence  its  name  and  that  of  Kingston  House, 
used  by  Mr.  Blomfield.  The  notorious  Duchess  of  Kingston  is 
said  to  have  been  much  here ;  and  some  years  ago  there  were 
still  reminiscences  of  her  eccentricities  among  the  townsfolk. 

Aubrey,  in  his  notes  on  Wiltshire,  attributes  the  design  to 
John  of  Padua.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  same 
architect  desig-ned  both  it  and  Lonsfleat.  In  each  there  is  the 
same  reliance  upon  proportion,  rather  than  upon  ornament,  to 


H 
W 

o 
z 

o 


ElizabetJian  Architecture  71 

insure  an  ornamental  effect ;  and  though  the  Duke's  House 
claims  our  attention  first,  as  being  easier  to  understand,  from 
its  small  dimensions,  and  as  being  practically  unrestored, 
Longleat,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  is  far  more  important 
and  interesting,  if  only  for  its  great  size.  Its  chief  character- 
istics may  be  briefly  summed  up.  It  forms  a  parallelogram  of 
220  feet  by  180.  The  ground-floor  is  15  feet  high,  the  next  18, 
and  the  third  12  feet.  The  architecture  is  mainly  the  same  as 
that  of  the  house  at  Bradford  ;  but  of  course  Longleat  is  on  a 
much  larger  scale,  and  has  not  the  same  charm  of  compact  beauty. 
There  is  a  similar  absence  of  mere  ornament,  the  same  abundant 
fenestration,  the  same  beautiful  parapet  work,  and,  as  compared 
with  contemporary  buildings,  the  same  freshness  and  originality. 
If  ever  it  could  be  said  that  a  style  was  invented  and  did  not 
grow  from  something  else,  it  might  be  said  of  the  style  intro- 
duced in  these  two  houses.  At  Longleat  there  is  a  certain 
amount  of  use  of  more  distinctly  Italian  features,  such  as  engaged 
columns  between  some  of  the  windows  and  at  the  principal 
entrance ;  but  there  have  evidently  been  reparations  and  altera- 
tions at  different  periods.  The  older  part,  attributed  to  John 
of  Padua  and  to  Thorpe,  was  completed  by  Smithson  ;  and,  after 
a  fire.  Sir  Christopher  Wren  made  many  additions  and  improve- 
ments. Wyatville  also  had  a  hand  in  it ;  and  it  is  better,  on 
the  whole,  as  I  have  said,  to  accept,  as  typical  of  the  style, 
the  Duke's  House  at  Bradford. 

Longleat  and  Bradford  do  not  stand  alone.  They  are 
only  two  of  a  goodly  company.  In  Cheshire  and  some  other 
counties  where  the  oolite  was  not  to  be  found,  the  style  is 
represented  by  Samlesbury  Hall,  Poole,  Moreton,  Agecroft,  and 
others — all  of  timber  and  plaster.      In    Northamptonshire  and 


72  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

several  of  the  adjoining  counties,  building  stone  is  to  be  had, 

and   many   Ehzabethan   houses  still   exist,  while  a  still   larger 

number    have    disappeared.       Some,   like    Kirby,   are    empty  ; 

some,    like    Burghley,    have    been    altered ;    and    some,    like 

Kenilworth,  have  become  picturesque  ruins.     When  we  come 

to  real    Palladian   architecture  and   the  use  of  the  orders,   we 

shall    find    many    examples    in    which    an    older    Elizabethan 

house    has    been    added    to    or    decorated ;    but    the   abundant 

allowance  for  window  space  was  common  to  all,  as  well  as  the 

use    of  gables,  sometimes,  as    in    Kent,  curved,  of  intricately 

designed  chimneys,  of  flat  lace-work  parapeting,  and  the  absence 

of  Italian  cornices  and   engaged  columns.      These  gables    are 

extremely    obnoxious — 1    do   not   know  why — to   "restorers"; 

and  at  Ingestre  and  many  other  places  they  have  been  removed. 

There  are  a  few  architects'  names  to  be  noted  as  belonging 

to  this  epoch.     We  cannot  always  distinguish  between  architects, 

surveyors,    and    stewards    entrusted    with    the   carrying    out   of 

designs.     Tradition   has    handed   down   the   name   of  John   of 

Padua.     Of  his   work   we    know    very    little,    if  anything,   for 

certain.      He  came  from    Italy  in  or  before   1544,  and  on  the 

30th  June  in  that  year  he  received  from   Henry  VIII.,  then  at 

Westminster  (Whitehall),  a  grant  of  2s.  a  day  "for  services  to 

the  King  in  architecture  and  music."     In  1549  there  is  a  grant 

from  the  young    King   Edward   VI.   of  the   same   sum  ;  being 

probably  a  continuation  or  confirmation.      It  is  easy  to  form  a 

theory  as  to  John  and  his  career.     We  may  suppose  he  came,  like 

so  many  others,  to  Henry  VIII.  as  a  musician;  and  having,  in 

common  with  most  of  his  compatriots,  a  turn  for  art,  he  may 

have    offered    his    services    to    the    King    and    other     English 

employers  of  architects.      He  may,  and  probably  did,  offer  to 


Elisabethau  Architecture  73 

build  after  the  manner  of  Italy — an  undertaking  he  would  be 
unable  to  fulfil  unless  he  had  learnt  the  art  at  home.  That 
he  had  vague  recollections  of  the  beautiful  buildings  rising  in 
Venice,  in  Florence,  in  his  own  Padua,  is  likely  enough ;  but 
there  is  a  complete  absence  of  any  evidence  that  he  was 
acquainted  with  Vitruvian,  or  even  Palladian  teaching.  No 
such  design  can  be  found  among  the  buildings  which  have  been 
attributed  to  him.  If,  for  example,  he  was  an  architect  educated 
in  Italy,  why  did  he  build  Longleat — assuming  the  fact,  for  an 
instant — without  arched  or  angular  pediments  to  the  windows, 
without  an  Italian  cornice,  and  with  engaged  pilasters  of  no 
particular  proportion  and  in  no  particular  style  ?  He  deserves 
credit  for  an  original  design  ;  but,  as  I  have  pointed  out,  it  is  as 
little  Classical  as  it  is  Gothic.  Apart,  however,  from  the  two 
entries  of  royal  grants,  and  from  the  persistent  traditions  above 
mentioned  we  have  no  precise  information.  Mr.  Papworth 
mentions  his  name  doubtfully  in  connection  with  Somerset  Place 
in  the  Strand,  of  which  nothing  remains,  and  also  with  Sion 
House,  now  completely  altered,  with  Longleat,  and  with  Brad- 
ford. Further  than  this  we  have  nothing  ;  and  in  passing  on  to 
the  next  name  on  our  list,  we  may  just  pause  to  recall  the  pretty 
old  legend  that  John  of  Padua  died  while  sitting  tranquilly  jn 
the  garden  of  Longleat  and  watching  the  work  of  his  masons. 

Next  in  order,  many  would  be  disposed  to  place  John 
Thorpe ;  but  he  belongs  strictly  to  the  next  chapter,  as  do  the 
two  Shutes  and  Robert  Smithson.  Henryck  is  mentioned  by 
Lord  Burghley,  and  was  probably  employed  to  design  more 
than  a  bay  window  at  Burghley  House.  He  had  been  brought 
over  by  Gresham  for  his  Royal  Exchange,  and  came  from 
Antwerp  ;  but  of  his  further  history  we  know  nothing.     There 


74  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

is  a  certain  interest  attaching  to  the  "masons"  who  actually 
superintended  the  erection  of  Burghley  and  Cobham  and  other 
great  country  houses.  If,  as  Mr.  Gotch  beHeves,  the  surveyor 
or  architect  did  Httle  except  plot  out,  plan,  or,  in  Shakespearean 
phrase,  "  draw  the  model,"  the  execution  was  entrusted  to  the 
master  mason,  and  under  him  were  the  carpenters,  the  glaziers, 
the  makers  of  leaden  cupolas  and  images,  the  plasterers,  and  the 
carvers.  The  architect  made  no  drawings  of  details,  and  all 
such  things  were  handed  over  to  "a  local  agent  or  foreman,  or 
clerk  of  the  works,  who  hired  labour  on  behalf  of  the  building 
proprietor,  overlooked  the  men  for  him,  made  bargains  with 
them  for  doing  the  work,  and  paid  them  from  time  to  time." 
So  far,  the  old  traditions  lingered.  The  architect  probably 
imparted,  as  far  as  he  could,  an  Italian  air  to  his  general  outline, 
to  his  domed  turrets,  and  to  any  porches  or  other  features  which 
would  bear  a  design  of  pillars  and  arches.  But  the  Flemish 
and  Italian  plasterers,  with  in  some  cases  the  wood-carvers,  who 
were  also  often  foreign  importations,  would  alone  understand 
the  object  of  the  architect.  The  rest  of  the  work  would  retain 
an  air  of  the  Gothic  style  in  which  the  artificer  was  brought  up  ; 
and  so  we  have  the  fascinating  combinations  which  were  bound 
to  result — combinations  of  skilled  single-minded  workmen  who 
had  learned  that  certain  things  were  good,  certain  things  bad, 
and  that,  as  I  have  had  so  many  occasions  to  observe,  even 
thus  early  in  my  book,  there  was  only  "one  style,  namely,  the 
best.  It  is  rather  to  this  straightforward  disposition  of  the 
workmen,  and  to  the  influence  of  a  competent  overseer,  that  we 
must  attribute  the  beauty  of  these  Elizabethan  houses.  At 
Burghley  we  have  Peter  Kemp  ;  at  Cobham,  Richard  Williams  ; 
and  at  Hatfield,  Robert  Liminge.    One  other  influence  must  be 


Elizabethan  Architedttre  75 

mentioned.  As  Mr.  Gotch  observes,  these  overseers  wrote 
for  instruction  and  to  report  progress  not  to  any  architect,  but 
to  their  employer.  It  is  to  the  taste  and  hberality  of  such  men 
as  Burghley  and  his  sons,  to  Hunsdon,  Stafford,  Tresham,  and 
other  weakhy  amateurs,  rather  than  to  Thorpe,  or  Shute,  or 
Smithson,  that  we  owe  the  best  of  these  ornaments  of  our  land  : 
the  worthy  exponents  in  architecture  of  the  new  birth  which 
influenced  poetry,  the  drama,  history,  music,  and  all  the  other 
arts  in  the  great  days  before  "the  setting  of  that  bright  Occi- 
dental Star,  Queen  Elizabeth,  of  most  happy  memory." 


IV 
THE    BEGINNINGS   OF   PALLADIAN 


IV 

THE    BEGINNINGS  OF    PALLADIAN 

The  Beginnings  of  Palladian — The  First  Examples — Tombs  by  Torregiano — Sir 
Anthony  Browne's  Monument — Mantelpieces — The  Royal  Exchange — Caius 
College — Recent  Vandalisms — The  Gates  of  Humility,  Virtue  and  Knowledge, 
and  Honour — Palladian  in  Fashion — John  Shute — Lomazzo — Birth  of  Inigo 
Jones — Gothic  and  Palladian — Palladio — Vitruvius — Proportions  of  the  principal 
Orders. 

Strange  to  say,  it  is  not  in  houses  but  in  churches  that  we  must 
seek  for  the  first  efforts  of  the  Palladian  architects  ;  although, 
strictly  speaking,  this,  the  latest  development  of  Italian  taste, 
had  not  yet  taken  place,  and  Palladio  was  probably  not  yet 
born.  In  hundreds,  perhaps  in  thousands  of  cases,  the  fell 
work  of  the  "  restorer"  has  destroyed  these  early  monuments  ; 
but  enough  remain  to  show  us  how  warmly  the  style  was 
appreciated,  and  how  correctly  it  was  practised  before  any  house 
or  church  had  been  built  in  it  in  England,  and  while  in  Italy 
the  style  was  still  in  its  infancy.  The  first  examples  are  the 
three  tombs  by  Torregiano  :  two  of  them  in  Westminster  Abbey 
and  the  third  in  the  Rolls  Chapel.  Henry  VII.  and  his 
mother,  the  Countess  of  Derby,  generally  known  as  the  Lady 
Margaret — -"  the  Lady  "  being  precisely  equivalent  to  our  phrase 
"the  Princess" — both  died  in  1509.  John  Young,  Dean  of 
York,  was  made  Master  of  the  Rolls  in  the  beginning  of  1 508, 


8o  Modern  ArcJiitcctitrc  in  England 

and  continued  in  the  office  by  Henry  VIII.  on  his  accession 
in  the  following  year.  There  can  be  little  doubt  he  himself 
commissioned  the  tomb  which  Torregiano  made  for  him  of 
terra-cotta  in  the  Rolls  Chapel;  as  it  was  completed  in  1516, 
the  very  year  he  died.  As  to  the  altar  tomb  of  Henry  VII. 
and  Elizabeth  of  York,  in  the  Lady  Chapel  of  Westminster 
Abbey,  it  was  simply  a  revelation  to  "those  beasts  of  English," 
as  he  contemptuously  called  them.  It  is  later  than  the  tomb  of 
Young,  and  was  probably  finished  after  Torregiano  returned 
from  Italy,  where  he  went  in  15 18  to  enlist  workmen;  the 
brass-work  of  the  grate  which  encloses  the  tomb  being  already 
in  place.  This  grating  is  purely  Gothic,  and  was  made  by 
Nicholas  Ewen  before  Torregiano  was  brought  upon  the  scene. 
(See  Gleanings  from  Westminster  Abbey,  p.  80.)  The  monu- 
ment of  the  Lady  Anne  of  Cleves,  who  died  in  1557,  is  attributed 
to  Haveus,  and  may  be  reckoned  one  of  the  first  of  a  long  series 
at  Westminster  in  which  the  Italian  taste  predominates.  Seven 
years  before,  in  1550,  Brigham  had  made  the  monument  of 
Chaucer  in  the  Poets'  Corner,  and  it  is  completely  Gothic  in  its 
features.  But  as  far  back  at  least  as  1525  the  monuments  of  the 
second  and  third  Lords  Marney,  who  both  died  in  1523,  were 
set  up  at  Layer  Marney,  in  Essex,  in  an  advanced  Italian  style, 
and  of  terra-cotta. 

If  we  assume,  as  we  may,  if  only  for  the  sake  of  advancing  the 
clearness  of  a  negative  conclusion,  that  the  first  distinctly  Palladian 
building,  as  distinguished  from  Elizabethan,  is  Caius  College  at 
Cambridge,  begun  probably  by  Haveus  in  1565, — although,  as 
I  have  said,  true  Palladian  was  as  yet  unknown, — we  shall  be 
surprised  how  much  earlier  purely  Italian  monuments  appear 
in  churches.      We  can  hardly  reckon  the  terra-cotta  tomb  at 


STEWART  MONUMENTS    ELY  CATHEDRAL. 


M 


TJie  Beginnings  of  Palladia n  83 


o 


Arundel,  but  the  Dormer  monuments  at  Wing  in  Bedfordshire 
date  between  1541  and  1552.  The  monument  at  Castle  Head- 
ingham  to  the  fifteenth  Earl  of  Oxford,  who  died  in  1539,  though 
it  is  not  Gothic,  can  hardly  be  described  as  Palladian.  But  the 
Audley  monument  at  Saffron  Walden,  which  has  many  points 
of  resemblance  to  the  tomb  of  Henry  VH.,  cannot  be  dated 
much  later  than  1544.  Several  Darcy  monuments  must  have 
been  set  up  at  about  the  same  time  in  the  church  of  St.  Osyth. 
The  date  of  Sir  Anthony  Browne's  sumptuous  tomb  in  Battle 
Church  in  Sussex  can  be  fixed  with  greater  certainty  ;  because 
it  was  made  in  his  lifetime  to  commemorate  his  wife  Alls  in  the 
first  place.  She  died  in  1540,  and  Sir  Anthony  himself  in  1548, 
so  that  the  work  must  be  placed  between  those  years.  He 
had  married,  secondly,  "the  Fair  Geraldine,"  Lady  Elizabeth 
Fitzgerald.  As  this  marriage  took  place  in  1543,  it  seems 
not  unlikely  that  the  tomb  was  completed  by  that  time.  Lady 
Elizabeth  did  not  take  the  pains  to  fill  up  the  date  of  Sir 
Anthony's  death.  At  Borley  in  Essex  there  are  some  fine 
tombs  of  members  of  the  Waldegrave  family,  the  latest  of 
which,  a  beautiful  arrangement  of  six  composite  columns,  must 
be  dated  before  the  end  of  the  century.  At  Chipping  Hill, 
in  the  same  county,  there  are  excellent  examples  :  one  of  them 
with  a  most  carefully  proportioned  tablet  which  must  assuredly 
have  been  designed  by  the  architect  of  the  Borley  monument. 
The  Rich  memorial  at  Felstead  is  perhaps  the  best  of  those 
figured  by  Mr.  Chancellor  in  his  splendid  volume  on  Essex 
Sepulchral  Monuments.  It  is  dated  1568,  but  was  probably 
put  up  a  little  later.  Some  of  the  Stewart  monuments  in  Ely 
Cathedral  are  of  the  same  period.  For  other  examples,  I  must 
refer  the  reader  to  Mr.  Chancellor  and  to  local  church  histories  ; 


84  Modern  Arcliitccturc  in  England 

but  enoueh  have  been  cited  to  show  that  very  pure  ItaHan 
taste  was  already  abroad  before  the  commencement  of  the 
first  Classical  building  in  England. 

Scarcely  behind  church  monuments  in  assuming  a  Classical 
garb  were  mantelpieces, — in  ftict.it  is  only  by  a  careful  comparison 
of  the  best  dated  examples  that  I  have  arrived  at  the  conclusion 
that  the  monuments  precede  them.     Some  of  these  Elizabethan 
chimneypieces  are  extremely  quaint  and  picturesque ;  but  the  purer 
Palladian  taste  and  feeling  do  not  come  in  till  a  comparatively 
late  period.     The  fireplace  was  a  favourite  object  on  which  to 
bestow  a  subtle  device,  or  to  display  a  redundance  of  heraldic 
ornament.      It  was    thought    appropriate    to    decorate    it    with 
uncouth  emblematic  figures, — with  Flora  and  Pomona,  with  bears 
and  lions,  with  cupids  and  nymphs, — and  this  fashion  continued 
long  after  the    full    measure   of  Classical  proportion  had  been 
attained  by   the  architects.      Fine  examples  of  alabaster  inlaid 
with  coloured  marbles  are  at  Loseley  and  at  Cobham,  and  others 
in  plain  freestone  are  at  Haddon  and  at  South  Wraxall.     Some 
magnificent  mantelpieces  were  in   London,  and  a  few  rescued 
from    old    city   mansions   are    at    South    Kensington;    but    the 
destroyer  has  of  late  years  been  very  busy  among  them,  and  soon 
there  will  be  few,  if  any,  left.     There  is  one  where  we  should 
least  expect  to  find  it :   in  one  of  the  new  rooms  in  the  western 
buildings  adjoining  Westminster  Hall.      It  is  said  to  have  come 
fron-i  the  Star  Chamber.     A  very  fine  example  is  in  a  bedroom 
at  Knole,  and  has  a  pointed  arch.     At  Postlip  in  Gloucestershire, 
a  fine  armorial  mantelpiece  of  the  local  stone  is  figured  by  Nash. 
One  of  oak,  at  Speke  in  Lancashire,  is  dated  1598,  and  there  is  a 
beautiful  chimneypiece  in  the  Charter  House.      It  would  be  easy 
to  multiply  examples  :  they  occur  even  in  comparatively  small 


SOUTH  WRAXALL 


Tlie  Begimiiiigs  of  Pal  Indian  87 

houses,  such  as  Cheney  Court,  near  Box,  Wiltshire,  a  dower-house 
of  the  Spekes  of  Hazlebury,  where  the  stone  chimneypieces  rise 
to  the  ceiHng  and  are  carved  with  armorial  bearings. 

Nothing  but  some  very  untrustworthy  engravings  remain  of 
Gresham's  Royal  Exchange.  He  undoubtedly  brought  over 
Flemish  artists  to  design  and  build  it,  and  he  also  probably 
brought  Haveus,  the  architect,  who  is  already  mentioned  as 
having  been  employed  on  the  tomb  of  Anne  of  Cleves.  Mr. 
Papworth  speaks  of  him  as  "Theodore  Haveus,  or  Heave,  of 
Cleves."  To  him  is  attributed,  rightly  or  wrongly,  the  first 
distinctly  Classical  building  in  England  —  Caius  College  at 
Cambridge.  The  authorities  of  that  University,  some  twenty  or 
thirty  years  ago,  seem  to  have  gone  on  a  crusade  against  what 
was  ancient  or  interesting  in  the  fabric  of  their  colleges  and 
public  buildings.  At  Pembroke  they  destroyed  the  oldest  relics 
in  the  University,  and  employed  a  modern  architect  to  lengthen 
Wren's  chapel — a  vandalism  of  which  we  shall  have  more  to  say. 
Other  atrocities  followed  ;  and  finally,  as  a  crown  to  the  whole 
movement,  the  precious,  unique,  exquisitely -proportioned  little 
buildings  of  Caius  were  handed  over  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the 
same  hand  which  had  ruined  Pembroke.  The  new  front  is  de- 
scribed by  the  guides  as  "in  the  French  chateau  style,"  or  "  that 
of  the  French  baronial  mansions  of  Francis  I.,"  whatever  it  may 
be.  Without  seeing  it,  one  would  say  that  nothing  more  inappro- 
priate for  the  situation  could  possibly  be  conceived  than  a  French 
country  chateau  in  the  centre  of  Cambridge,  in  close  proximity 
to  two  of  the  greatest  architectural  ornaments  of  the  University, 
— King's  College  chapel  and  the  Senate  House, — to  say  nothing 
of  its  interference  with  the  oldest,  and  in  some  respects  the  best 
Italian  buildings  in  England.      But  there  is  little  of  the  French 


88  Modcni  ArcJiifccfiirc  in  England 

or  any  other  style  about  the  new  building.  The  whole  thing 
must  come  down,  and  will,  when  the  College  or  University 
authorities  return  to  their  senses  ;  but  even  pulling  down  will 
not  restore  the  chapel  or  the  "  Gate  of  Humility." 

This  gate  opened  into  the  College  from  the  street,  and  was 
part  of  a  scheme  of  symbolism  very  characteristic  of  the  Eliza- 
bethan age.  By  humility  the  earnest  student  was  to  approach 
his  work.  It  is  now  in  Senate  House  Passage,  or  so  much  of  it 
as  was  preserved  at  the  removal.  We  need  not  describe  it,  as 
we  have  no  guarantee  that  it  resembles  the  original  erection, 
and,  judging  from  analogy  and  experience,  have  every  reason  to 
suppose  it  is  as  much  altered  as  any  other. 

But  the  second  of  these  symbolical  gates  is  fairly  intact  ;  and, 
as  the  very  first  building  in  an  avowedly  Italian  style,  it  is  of  such 
transcendent  interest  in  architectural  history  that  its  preservation 
by  the  present  Cambridge  arbiters  of  taste  is  little  short  of  a 
miracle.  It  is,  in  point  of  date,  the  oldest  of  the  three,  having 
been  built  in  1565  ;  as  we  read  :  "  On  Saturday,  the  5th  of  May, 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1565,  at  four  in  the  morning,  after 
offering  up  prayers  to  God  that  our  College  might  enjoy  both  a 
prosperous  commencement  and  eventual  success,  and  that  all  its 
members  might  prove  men  of  integrity,  lovers  of  literature, 
serviceable  to  the  state,  and  fearing  God,  we  laid  the  first  and 
sacred  stone  of  the  foundation."  The  date  is  given  wrongly  in 
most  books  on  Cambridge,  as  Mr.  J.  \V.  Clark  has  proved.  It 
was  finished  in  1567,  and  has  two  inscriptions  :  one  on  the  eastern 
side,  "  Virtutis "  ;  and  one  on  the  western,  "Jo:  Caius  posuit 
Sapientice."  There  are  two  pilasters  of  the  Ionic  order,  but  the 
archway  between  is  pointed.  Above  are  two  storeys  with 
"  cottage-headed  "  Gothic  windows,  and  above  them  a  pediment. 


GATE  OF  HONOUR,  CAIUS  COLLEGE. 


N 


The  Beginnings  of  Palladian  91 

At  the  south  side  is  a  turret  set  corner-wise  and  surmounted  by 
a  small  crocketed  stone  cupola.  The  whole  composition  is 
extremely  picturesque,  and  it  adds  to  our  interest  to  know  that 
Dr.  Caius  resided  in  the  rooms  over  the  gate  until  just  before 
his  death,  which  happened  during  a  visit  to  London  in  July  1573. 
His  body  was  buried  in  the  chapel,  on  the  north  wall  of  which  is 
a  beautiful  alabaster  monument  with  Corinthian  columns  and  a 
canopy.  The  inscription  is  simply,  "  Fui  Caius,"  and  round  the 
frieze  of  the  canopy  are  the  words  "  Vivit  Post  Funera  Virtus." 
This  monument,  in  accordance  with  what  has  already  been 
observed,  is  in  a  much  more  advanced  style  than  any  of  the 
College  buildings.  The  chapel  which  it  ornamented  has  been 
repeatedly  altered  and  "restored";  and  the  east  end,  with  its 
Ionic  columns  and  broken  pediment,  has  been  replaced  by  an  apse 
designed  by  Mr.  Waterhouse  in  his  "  French  chateau  style." 
The  monument  of  Dr.  Caius  was  removed  from  his  grave  and 
placed  high  up  on  the  wall  near  the  chancel  in  1637. 

The  justly  famous  "  Gate  of  Honour"  was  not  built  till  after 
the  death  of  Dr.  Caius.      He  is  said  to  have  dictated  the  design 

o 

to  his  architect  before  his  death.  It  is  curious  to  observe  in 
architecture,  as  in  many  other  arts,  that  first  attempts  are  often 
so  good.  In  Egypt,  the  sculpture  of  a  period  so  remote  that  it 
cannot  be  dated  is  not  only  the  best  of  its  kind,  but  many 
sculptors  and  others  have  acknowledged  that  a  diorite  statue  of 
a  king — the  first  royal  statue  In  the  world — has  never  been 
surpassed.  So  too,  in  our  own  country,  some  works  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  erected  while  pointed  architecture  was  in  its 
infancy,  remain  unapproached.  This  first  effort  to  build  in  the 
new  style  long  stood  by  itself.  There  was  nothing  to  compete 
with    it.       In    the    present    state    of    architectural    taste    it    is 


92  Modern  Architecture  in  Englami 

not  likely,  in  our  day  at  least,  to  be  surpassed.  In  Ireland, 
some  of  the  recent  buildings  in  Kildare  Street,  Dublin,  though, 
like  those  in  Cambridge,  small  in  size,  vie  with  anything  built  in 
London  since  the  wanton  ruin  of  Burlington  House. 

The  Gate  of  Honour  is  usually  dated  in  1574-75.  ^^  consists 
of  a  gateway,  a  storey  of  the  Corinthian  order,  with  a  pediment, 
and  a  plain  stone  cupola,  hexagonal  in  plan,  so  as  to  give  a  very 
pleasing  and  varied  effect.  The  whole  building  is  not  above 
30  feet  in  height.  The  lowest  storey  is,  architecturally,  the 
most  interesting  ;  for  in  the  pointed  doorway  we  see  the  efforts 
of  the  old  Gothic  tradition,  still  prevailing  doubtless  among  the 
workmen  employed,  endeavouring  to  accommodate  itself  to  the 
Italian  views  of  the  architect.  Heave,  or  Haveus,  who  has  been 
already  mentioned,  was  probably  the  architect  both  of  this  gate 
and  of  the  others  ;  but  it  is  now  impossible  to  be  certain.  The 
Gate  of  Honour  is,  of  course,  dwarfed  by  the  great  buildings 
now  surrounding  it,  but  groups  well  with  James  Gibbs's  Senate 
House. 

The  fashion  set  by  Caius  at  Cambridge  was  soon  followed  in 
other  parts  of  England.  Little  Shelford  in  Essex  was  built  for 
Sir  Horatio  Pallavicini  in  or  about  1576,  and  is  described  as 
"the  first  house  purely  Italian."  Some  additions  to  Windsor 
Castle,  now  part  of  the  Royal  Library,  are  of  this  period  ;  and 
the  interior  shows  purely  Italian  details.  The  other  examples 
speedily  become  too  numerous  to  be  mentioned  singly  ;  and  the 
names  of  great  architects — Hawthorne,  Thorpe,  the  two  Shutes, 
Smithson,  and  some  who  seem  to  have  been  simply  builders,  or, 
as  we  should  say,  contractors,  like  Warde,  Williams,  and  Hall, 
who  are  all  mentioned  as  working  in  Elizabeth's  reign — have 
come    down    to    us.      Burghley,   Hatfield,   Cobham,    Holdenby, 


The  Beginnings  of  Palladian  93 

Lyveden,  WoUaton,  Kirby,  and  many  hundreds  of  smaller  houses 
still  testify  to  the  originality  of  their  taste,  and  to  their  eye  for 
the  picturesque  :  a  quality  never  forgotten,  even  when  they  tried 
to  conform  to  the  Palladian  rules  as  newly  interpreted  to  them. 
The  four  books  of  Architecture  were  first  published  at  Venice  in 
1570,  and  rapidly  became  known  in  England.  In  1550,  John 
Shute  had  been  sent  to  study  in  Italy  by  John  Dudley,  the  ill- 
fated  Duke  of  Northumberland;  and  in  1563  he  published  his 
First  and  Chief  Grounds  of  Architecture.  It  was  reprinted  in 
1579  and  in  1584,  and  must  have  exercised  a  great  influence  on 
the  taste  of  the  time.  In  a  dedication  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  he 
says  his  work  had  been  approved  of  by  King  Edward  VI., 
"  whose  delectation  and  pleasure  was  to  see  it  and  such  like  " ;  and 
he  goes  on  to  say  that  having  made  many  sketches, — "  trickes  and 
devises  "  he  calls  them, — he  thinks  it  well  to  publish  some  of  them 
for  the  profit  of  other  people,  and  adds,  "Wherein  I  do  follow  not 
onelie  the  writinges  of  learned  men,  but  also  do  ground  myselfe 
on  my  own  experience  and  practise,  gathered  by  the  sight  of  the 
Monumentes  in  Italy."  There  is  a  volume  of  Thorpe's  drawings, 
chiefly  details,  in  the  Soane  Museum.  Before  the  end  of  Queen 
Elizabeth's  reign,  namely,  in  1578,  Lomazzo's  Trattato  deir 
arte  delta  Pictnra,  Scultura,  et  Architectural  printed  at  Milan  in 
1585,  was  translated  and  published  in  English  by  Richard 
Haydocke.  This  book  was  dedicated  to  Sir  Thomas  Bodley, 
who  about  the  same  time  was  engaged  in  rebuilding  Duke 
Humphrey's  library  at  Oxford.  There  is  a  frontispiece  or 
engraved  title  with  portrait  of  "Jo.  Paul  Lomatius "  and  his 
translator  Haydocke,  who  is  described  as  a  "  Student  in  Physick." 
The  title  runs  thus  :  A  Trade  containing  tlie  Artes  of  curious 
Paintinge,  Carving,  and  Buildinge. 


94  Modern  Arcliitcctiire  in  England 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  these  publications  influenced 
the  mind  of  a  youth  who,  born  in  1573,  was  destined  to  do 
more  than  any  one  else  to  commend  the  Palladian  style  of 
architecture  to  his  countrymen ;  but  before  we  proceed  to 
examine  the  career  of  Inigo  Jones,  it  may  be  well  to  pause 
and  answer  such  simple  questions  as  :  What  are  the  elements 
of  Palladian,  and  how  does  it  chiefly  differ  from  the  styles  in 
vogue  before  it,  and  especially  that  one  which,  for  want  of  a 
better  name,  we  call  Gothic  ? 

There  is  a  strong  similarity  in  all  good  architecture.  The 
impression  to  be  produced  by  a  building  should  be  threefold. 
We  should  be  able  to  see  in  it  harmony  of  proportion,  an  ex- 
pression of  stability,  and,  thirdly,  ornament.  In  other  words,  a 
building  with  architectural  pretensions  ought  to  be  so  propor- 
tioned in  plan,  in  elevation,  and  in  parts  to  the  whole,  that,  with- 
out anything  else,  it  should  give  to  the  mind  of  the  spectator, 
through  his  eyes,  such  a  feeling  of  pleasure  as  he  derives  from  a 
grand  or  sweet  musical  composition,  or  a  sublime  piece  of  poetry, 
or  a  beautiful  painting.  This  impression  is  rare,  but  not  transient. 
It  is  constantly  renewed  by  the  same  object,  even  though  that 
object  presents  itself  differently  to  different  minds.  Long  before 
I  began  to  analyse  it,  I  used,  at  .some  trouble  and  expense,  to  go 
out  of  my  way  to  obtain  the  pleasure  of  a  passing  glimpse  of 
Salisbury  Cathedral.  In  poetry,  can  any  one  forget  the  first  read- 
ing of,  say,  Mrs.  Browning's  exquisite  lyric,  "  He  giveth  His 
beloved  sleep  " .''  There  are  not  many  harmonious  pictures 
painted  at  the  present  day,  but  who  can  see  the  Ansidei 
Madonna  without  pleasure,  or  look  at  the  delicately  balanced 
colours  of  the  Waterloo  Van  Eyck  without  a  thrill?  When  the 
poet  wrote  : 


TJie  Bcginiiiugs  of  Palladia n  95 

My  love  is  like  a  red  red  rose 
That  sweetly  blows  in  June  : 
My  love  is  like  a  melody 
That's  softly  played  in  tune, 

he  might  well  have  gone  further  and  taken  a  third  simile  from 
architecture.  He  might  have  added  that  she  resembled  a  Gothic 
spire  or  a  tapering  marble  column.  There  v^^ould  have  been  good 
precedent  in  the  Song  of  Solomon,  where  the  hero  is  compared 
to  the  tower  of  David,  builded  for  an  armoury,  and  his  nose  is 
likened  to  "  the  tower  of  Lebanon  which  looketh  toward  Damas- 
cus." But  so  do  all  the  arts,  if  only  they  are  true,  unite  with 
poetry,  and  display  essentially  the  same  qualities. 

These  things,  then,  harmony  and  proportion,  which  are  so 
necessary  in  music,  painting,  and  poetry,  are  still  more  necessary 
in  architecture.  We  are  told  that  So-and-so  does  not  admire 
Gothic  architecture,  or  does  not  admire  Classical  and  the  rest  of 
it.  But  this  is  pure  rubbish.  No  cultivated  man  can  admire 
bad  architecture,  by  what  name  soever  its  author  may  call  it. 
If  the  man  who  does  not  admire  Classical  architecture  sees  the 
Parthenon,  he  straightway  admires  it — he  cannot  help  himself 

So,  too,  we  expect  in  good  architecture,  Classic  or  Gothic,  or 
anything  else,  to  see  stability.  A  building  should  look  secure. 
You  should  feel  when  you  approach  it  that  it  will  not  fall  on  your 
head.     Wren  said  building  should  be  for  eternity. 

Lastly,  a  building  should  be  ornamental.  By  "ornamental  " 
I  do  not  mean  "covered  with  ornament."  It  is  surprising  how 
little  applied  ornament  has  to  do  with  beauty.  There  are  ware- 
houses in  the  City,  of  recent  growth,  which  are  among  the  most 
monstrously  hideous  erections  the  world  has  ever  seen,  and  yet 
are    almost  built  of  ornaments.     One   is   in   my   mind  at    this 


96  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

nionient — a  monument  of  deformity  and  ugliness.  It  has  no 
harmony,  no  look  of  stability,  no  real  ornament.  It  has  marble 
columns,  but  they  are  of  a  length  so  contrary  to  all  the  rules, 
that  even  their  bronze  gilt  caj^itals  will  not  redeem  them  from 
offensive  ugliness.  Everything  else  is  of  the  same  character. 
The  architect,  who,  by  the  way,  has  carved  his  name  on  a  corner- 
stone, must  either  have  been  absolutely  ignorant  of  his  art,  or 
else  have  wished  to  try  if  Palladian  rules  could  be  violated  with 
impunity.  One  grudges  to  see  such  costly  materials  wasted.  This 
is  only  one  of  a  hundred  examples  which  may  be  counted  in  a 
few  minutes'  walk  through  the  City.  Proportion  is  as  necessary 
to  Gothic  as  to  Classic,  and  the  present  degradation  of  architec- 
ture is  almost  wholly  attributable  to  its  disuse.  A  curious 
example  occurs  in  a  book  in  which  we  should  not  look  for  it. 
Professor  J.  Henry  Middleton,  in  his  work  on  Illiiiiiinatcd Manu- 
scripts, says  :  "  The  sixteenth-century  tapestry  in  the  great  hall 
at  Hampton  Court  is  a  striking  example  of  the  way  in  which 
gigantic  figures  may  destroy  the  scale  of  an  interior." 

The  mediaeval  architects  had  very  strict  rules  of  proportion 
at  first.  In  the  plain  Early  English  or  First  Pointed  style  it  was 
necessary.  This  is  particularly  visible  in  Salisbury  Cathedral 
and  may  also  be  seen  in  the  beautiful  church  of  Climping  in 
Sussex,  and  in  the  slightly  more  highly  ornamented  church  of 
Skelton  in  Yorkshire.  As  time  went  on,  architects  seem  to 
have  thought  too  much  of  carving  and  decoration,  with  a  cor- 
responding degradation  of  their  style  ;  but  there  is  excellent 
proportion  displayed  in  some  Perpendicular  churches,  as  for 
example  Wakefield,  Newark,  and  Coventry,  and  there  are  in- 
numerable proofs  that  the  architects  studied  it  carefully. 

At  the  so-called  Gothic  revival  of  fifty  years  ago,  proportion 


The  Beginnings  of  Palladiau  97 

fell  into  disuse,  and  a  disastrous  effect  has  been  produced  upon 
design  by  the  idea  that  detail  alone  is  important.  Few  architects 
of  the  revival  escaped  it.  Hardwick,  in  his  hall  of  Lincoln's 
Inn,  though  it  has  since  been  much  changed  and  spoilt  by  another 
architect,  and  his  Philological  School  in  the  Marylebone  Road, 
proves  the  need  of  proportion  even  in  Gothic  work.  St.  Luke's, 
Chelsea,  built  by  Savage  in  1820, — the  first  revived  Gothic  church 
in  London, — shows  excellent  proportions,  though  poor  and  even 
bad  in  details.  But  the  great  safety  of  the  Palladian  style  lay 
in  the  strictness  of  its  rules.  What  was  often  done  by  chance 
in  Gothic  was  made  certain  in  the  style  of  the  Renascence.  An 
architect  might  not  be  a  genius,  but  so  long  as  he  took  care  not 
to  transgress  the  proportions  laid  down  for  him,  his  building 
could  not  but  avoid  any  gross  error. 

The  main  difference,  in  England  at  least,  between  the  old 
and  the  new  schools,  was  the  attention  paid  to  proportion  b)'  the 
greatest  architects,  the  introduction  of  columns  and  pilasters 
instead  of  buttresses,  and  a  system  of  fenestration  suited  to  the 
improvement  in  the  manufacture  of  glass.  Tracery  in  windows 
was  discarded  as  no  longer  necessary,  though  it  lingered  in  many 
places  in  the  shape  of  those  cross-mullioned  windows  which  we 
see  in  Brympton  House,  which  is  very  probably  by  Inigo  Jones. 
The  columns  and  pilasters  had  to  follow  certain  patterns,  and 
were  of  so  many  diameters  according  to  the  order.  Cornices, 
which  in  the  hands  of  Inigo  Jones  and  Wren  became  so  marvel- 
lously ornamental,  superseded  the  parapets,  pierced  or  embattled, 
of  the  Gothic  architect ;  and  the  most  beautiful  of  all  the  features 
of  the  style,  the  portico,  gave  us  such  varieties  of  charm  as  we 
see  in  St.  Paul's,  St.  Martin's-in-the-Fields,  St.  George's,  Blooms- 
bury,  and  many  other  buildings,  religious  and  secular.  The 
o 


98  Modem  Architecture  in  England 

portico,  as  we  see  it  in  Apsley  House  and  many  other  buildings, 
was  a  useless  excrescence,  meaningless  and  expensive  ;  but  such 
things  belong  rather  to  the  "  Grecian  "  period,  to  which  I  shall 
refer  later  on. 

There  was  another  reason  why  Palladian  became  popular. 
It  is  pre-eminently  the  style  for  the  Protestant  church.  No 
church  of  the  so-called  Gothic  revival  equals  in  convenience  for 
congregational  worship  even  such  a  comparatively  poor  building 
as  St.  James's,  Piccadilly,  while  Gibbs's  St.  Mary  le  Strand  is 
everything  that  a  church  should  be.  P^or  domestic  purposes,  it 
obtained  a  strong  hold ;  and  where  no  very  prominent  architectural 
treatment  was  required,  survived  till  very  lately,  local  builders 
where  good  stone  abounded  having  inherited  certain  tradi- 
tions. But  these  traditions,  under  the  influence  of  the  modern 
architect,  who  thinks  ornament,  and  not  proportion,  is  the  most 
important  element  in  architecture,  are  fast  fading  away.  The 
anomalous  style  has  come  into  existence  ;  and  some  of  the  most 
hideous  buildings  ever  laid  as  burdens  upon  the  earth  have  been 
and  are  being  erected.  As  Garbett  said  forty  years  ago,  in  his 
Principles  of  Design,  of  the  architect  of  his  day,  "  He  makes  a 
change  not  for  the  sake  of  Truth,  but  for  the  sake  of  change." 

The  great  Italian  architect,  Palladio,  constituted  himselt  the 
prophet  of  Vitruvius.  It  is  needful,  in  order  to  understand  fully 
the  learned  architectural  style,  that  we  should  know  who  these 
two  remarkable  men  were.  Andrea  Palladio,  born  in  1518, 
being  fond  of  architecture,  as  he  tells  us  himself,  from  his  youth, 
was  particularly  attracted  by  the  buildings  of  the  ancient  Romans. 
In  his  opinion,  they  excelled  all  who  have  been  since  their  time 
in  building  well.  He  therefore  proposed  to  himself  Vitruvius, 
the  only  Roman  writer  on  architecture,  as  his  "master  and  guide." 


The  Begiiuiings  of  Pal  la  di an  99 

His  book  on  Architecture  was  published  at  Venice  in  1570.  In 
that  city,  always  remarkable  for  its  architecture,  Sansovino  was 
already  practising.  As  Palladio  says  in  his  preface,  it  was  in 
Venice  that  "  Messer  Giacomo  Sansovino,  a  celebrated  sculptor 
and  aj-chitect,  first  began  to  make  known  the  beautiful  manner, 
as  is  seen  (not  to  mention  many  other  beautiful  works  of  his)  in 
the  new  Procuratia,  which  is  the  richest  and  most  adorned 
edifice  that  perhaps  has  been  made  since  the  ancients."  The 
book  of  Palladio  was  several  times  translated  and  printed  in 
England  ;  and  Lord  Burlington,  having  given  Isaac  Ware,  him- 
self a  good  architect,  leave  to  see  and  use  the  original  drawings 
of  Palladio  in  his  collection,  Ware  was  induced  to  have  some  of 
them  engraved,  and  to  publish  a  folio  volume  dedicated  to  Lord 
Burlington,  and,  indeed,  revised  by  that  nobleman,  which  contains 
the  four  books  of  Palladio.  The  first  relates  to  the  five  orders  ; 
the  second  describes  some  houses  he  had  built,  with  comparisons 
with  those  of  the  Greeks  and  Latins  ;  the  third  is  concerned 
with  bridges,  piazzas,  roads,  and  other  works  more  like  engineer- 
ing than  building  ;  and  the  fourth  treats  of  the  ancient  Roman 
remains  still  extant  in  Italy.  Palladio  was  born  and  lived  chiefiy 
at  Vicenza,  where  he  died  in  1580.  M.  Quatremere  de  Quincy 
says  of  him,  that  his  good  taste  led  him  to  take  the  utmost  pains 
with  his  plans,  to  adapt  his  designs  to  the  wants  of  the  time 
and  to  moderate  means  ;  that  he  knew  how  to  make  a  building 
grand  without  grand  dimensions,  and  rich  without  great  expense. 
He  adds,  that  the  taste  of  Palladio  found  a  second  home  in 
England,  where  Inigo  Jones,  Christopher  Wren,  James  Gibbs, 
Burlington,  Chambers,  and  many  others  naturalised  his  plans,  his 
facades,  the  happy  adjustment  of  his  forms,  his  profiles,  his 
proportions,  and  his  details.      His  best  work  is  now  to  be  seen 


lOO 


Modern  Architecture  in  England 


at  Vicenza ;  Ouatremere  figures  his  Basilica  there,  as  does 
Fergusson,  as  well  as  his  Villa  del  Capra.  To  give  an  idea  of 
his  teaching,  we  may  quote  from  Ware's  translation  the  whole 


THIENI    PALACE,  VICENZA.       1!Y   PALLADIO. 


of  a  chapter  headed  "  Of  the  five  orders  made  use  of  by  the 
ancients." 

"The  Tuscan,  Dorick,  lonick,  Corinthian,  and  Composite, 
are  the  five  orders  made  use  of  by  the  ancients.  These  ought 
to  be  so  disposed  in  a  building,  that  the  most  solid  may  be  placed 


TJic  Bcgiiiuiiigs  of  Palladian 


lOI 


undermost,  as  being  the  most  proper  to  sustain  the  weight,  and 
to  give  the  whole  edifice  a  more  firm  foundation  ;  therefore  the 
Dorick  must  always  be  placed  under  the  lonick,  the  lonick 
under  the  Corinthian,  and  the  Corinthian  under  the  Composite. 
The  Tuscan,  being  a  plain,  rude  order,  is  therefore  very  seldom 


ALMERICO   PALACE,  VICENZA.        BY   PALLADIO. 


used  above  ground,  except  in  villas,  where  one  order  only  is 
employed.  In  very  large  buildings,  as  amphitheatres  and  such 
like,  where  many  orders  are  required,  this,  instead  of  the  Dorick, 
may  be  placed  under  the  lonick.  But  if  you  are  desirous  to 
leave  out  any  of  these  orders, — as,  for  instance,  to  place  the 
Corinthian  immediately  over  the  Dorick, — you  may,  provided  you 
always  observe  to  place  the  most  strong  and  solid  undermost,  for 
the  reasons  above  mentioned.  The  measures  and  proportions 
of  each  of  these  orders  I  shall  separately  set  down  ;  not  so  much 


I02 


Modern  Architecture  in  En  (flan  d 


according  to  Vitruvius,  as  to  the  observations  I  have  made  on 
several  ancient  edifices.  But  I  shall  first  mention  such  particulars 
as  relate  to  all  of  them  in  general." 

This  chapter  from  the  first  book  will  give  a  very  good  idea 
of  the  views  he  endeavoured  to  impress  upon  his  pupils.      Inigo 


"^ 


"^  f"  'IT'*'  f***  *'**i  rT" 


\\\  \\\\i 


MOCENIGO    P.M.ACK.        1)Y    rAU.AUIO. 


Jones,  we  know,  had  a  copy  of  his  book,  and  no  doubt  profited 
by  seeing  his  buildings  at  Vicenza,  Verona,  Venice,  and  other 
places,  as  well  as  those  also  which  he  specially  praises  by  Vasari 
and  Sansovino. 

Very  little  is  known  of  Vitruvius,  e.xcept  that  he  must  have 
lived  in  the  time  of  Augustus,  to  whom  he  dedicated  his  ten 
books  concerning  Architecture — the  only  Roman  work  on  the 
subject  which  has  come  down  to  us.      From  certain  allusions  he 


o 


<    -5 
_    « 

z  I 


z 

o 


z 

o 


o 
o 


The  Beginnings  of  Palladian  105 

was  an  old  man  when  he  wrote,  and  was,  moreover,  a  man  of 
short  stature. 

For  purposes  of  reference,  it  may  be  worth  while  to  give 
the  principal  measurements  of  the  different  orders  in  use  among 
the  architects  of  the  school  of  Palladio. 

It  should  be  premised  that  different  architects  affected  not 
only  different  orders,  but  different  proportions :  Wren,  for 
example,  using  one— the  Tuscan  Doric— in  many  varieties  of 
proportion. 

For  the  Tuscan,  Sir  William  Chambers  laid  down  the 
following  proportions  :  "  7^he  height  of  the  column  is  fourteen 
modules,  or  seven  diameters  ;  that  of  the  whole  entablature 
three  modules  and  a  half,  which  being  divided  into  ten  equal 
parts,  three  are  for  the  height  of  the  architrave,  three  for  the 
frieze,  and  the  remaining  four  for  the  cornice  :  the  capital  is  in 
height  one  module  :  the  base,  including  the  lower  cincture 
(which  is  peculiar  to  the  measurement  of  this  order)  of  the 
shaft,  is  also  one  module,  and  the  shaft,  with  its  upper  cincture 
and  astragal,  is  twelve  modules  :  in  interior  decoration,  the 
height  of  the  column  may  be  fourteen  modules  and  a  half,  or 
even  fifteen  modules."  It  was  probably  this  possible  variation 
m  the  length  of  the  Tuscan  column  which  made  it  such  a 
favourite  with  Wren. 

The  proportions  of  the  Ionic  order  are  stated  as  follows  : 
The  height  of  the  column  is  eighteen  modules,  and  that  of  the 
entablature  four  and  a  half,  or  one  quarter  the  height  of  the 
column  :  if  we  divide  the  entablature  into  ten  equal  parts,  three 
are  for  the  architrave,  three  for  the  frieze,  and  four  for  the 
cornice.  There  is  much  variety  in  different  examples  of  the 
capital. 
I' 


io6  Modern  .1  n/iihriiirc  in  Enghmd 

The  Corinthian  order  has  the  same  proportions,  speaking 
generally,  as  the  Ionic,  but  the  capital  claims  an  entire  diameter. 
In  the  Composite  style,  the  column  may  be  as  much  as  twenty 
modules. 

In  concluding  a  long  chapter,  I  cannot  do  better  than 
quote  some  expressions  made  use  of  by  Professor  Banister 
I-'letchcr  in  opening  the  class  of  Architecture  at  King's  College 
in  1890.  That  they  should  have  been  necessary,  is  in  itself 
remarkable :  that  they  should,  apparently,  have  produced  no 
effect,  is  a  melancholy  sign  of  the  present  state  of  the  art 
among  us : 

"A  building  without  proportion  is  utterly,  hopelessly  bad. 
A  building,  no  matter  how  simple,  if  in  proportion,  is  good  and 
pleasing.  A  building  in  good  proportion,  and  with  ornamented 
construction,  is  to  be  desired,  and  will  give  pleasure.  No  amount 
of  ornament,  or  even  ornamented  construction,  is  of  any  avail 
ill  producing  a  pleasing  effect  without  proportion.  Proportion, 
then,  is  the  very  life-blood  of  Architecture.  " 


INIGO   JONES 


V 

INIGO  JONES 

A    List— Parentage   and    Name— Birth   and    Baptism— Visits    Italy — A   Landscape 

Painter Proportion — In  Denmark —With  Prince   Henry— A   Scene   Painter — 

Surveyor-General— Numerous  Drawings — Method  of  Working— Stage  Experi- 
ence—Arch Row,  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields — Greenwich  — Somerset  House— York 
House— Jones  and  Stone— New  Palace  of  Whitehall— Design  for  James  I.— 
Design  for  Charles  I.— The  Banqueting  Hall— A  Reredos— Old  St.  Paul's— 
St.  Paul's,  Covent  Garden — Ashburnham  House — Country  Houses — School  of 
Inigo  Jones — Death  and  Burial 

The  career  of  Inigo  Jones  has  already  been  made  the  subject  of 
remark  in  this  book,  when  I  had  occasion  to  mention  his  Gothic 
work.  We  have  but  meagre  particulars  of  his  life  and  training. 
Under  what  master  he  learned  to  design  in  so  pure  a  style  we 
cannot  tell  ;  but  we  can  judge  from  his  Gothic  work  that  the  eye 
for  proportion,  in  which  he  excelled  all  his  contemporaries  and 
most  of  his  successors,  was  both  born  in  him  and  also  sedulously 
cultivated.  We  have  reason,  moreover,  to  believe  that  he  was 
a  good  draughtsman,  though  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  all 
the  drawings  in  -the  Devonshire  and  other  collections  are  actually 
by  his  hand.  Of  his  buildings,  few  remain,  and  still  fewer  are 
intact.  He  certainly  made  some  designs  for  Wilton,  and  a 
bridge  there  is  undoubtedly  his.  At  Widcombe,  close  to  Bath, 
there  is  a  small,  but  beautiful  manor-house  always  locally  ascribed 
to  him  ;  but  it  is  apparently  later.      I  have  mentioned  his  Gothic 


I  lo  Modern  .Irchitectitre  in  England 


<b' 


work  at  Oxford  already;  but  he  does  not  appear  to  have  designed 
anything  there  in  his  most  characteristic  style,  unless  we  assign 
to  him  the  porch  of  St.  Mary's  Church.  In  London,  we  had 
many  pieces  well  worthy  of  his  skill ;  but  year  by  year  they  perish. 
The  excellent  Society  for  Photographing  Relics  of  Old  London 
has  preserved  views  of  several  which  have  lately  been  removed. 
Mr.  Alfred  Marks  enumerates  as  his:  Shaftesbury  House,  Aiders- 
gate,  now  destroyed;  Ashburnham  House,  in  Little  Dean's  Yard, 
Westminster;  the  Banqueting  House  at  Whitehall ;  the  chapel 
of  Lincoln's  Inn,  which,  as  their  chief  treasure,  the  benchers 
handed  over  for  "  restoration  "  to  an  amateur  who  had  already 
characterised  Inigo's  work  as  "horrible";  the  Water  Gate  of 
York  House,  in  Buckingham  Street  ;  and  Lindsey  House,  with 
possibly  one  or  two  other  fronts  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields.  There 
are  two  houses  very  like  his  work  in  Great  Queen  Street. 
Two  others,  locally  ascribed  to  him,  were  in  Great  St.  Helen's, 
and  were  pulled  down  in  1892.  The  portico  of  St.  Paul's, 
Covent  Garden,  which  has  been  burnt  and  rebuilt  and  finally 
handed  over  to  a  "  Gothic  "  architect  for  improvement  and  the 
side  entrances  pulled  down,  with  some  reminiscences  rather  than 
remains  in  the  adjacent  buildings  of  the  Piazza,  may  safely  be 
assigned  to  him.  The  staircase  of  a  house  on  the  south  side  ot 
Chandos  Street,  pulled  down  last  year,  was  very  likely  his,  and 
was  very  handsome  both  in  design  and  execution.  He  lived,  we 
know,  for  a  time  very  near  the  spot,  before  the  existing  streets 
were  laid  out.  Lastly,  we  may  trace  his  hand  at  Greenwich, 
where  Wren's  noble  design  was  specially  made  to  include,  pre- 
serve, and  complete  what  Jones  had  begun. 

It  has  frcquendy  been  asserted  that  his  father  was  a  tailor 
near  St.  Paul's,  and  had  dealings  with  Spanish  merchants,  one 


W  B 

'C  E 

X  2 

O  -S 


/ 


Inigo  Jones  113 

of  whom  gave  his  Christian  name  to  the  son.  This  story,  started 
after  Inigo's  death  by  his  friend  Webb,  and  greatly  enlarged  and 
improved  by  Ouatremere  de  Ouincy  and  other  imaginative 
writers,  has  apparently  no  foundation.  The  elder  Jones  was  not 
a  tailor.  He  lived  in  the  parish  of  St.  Bartholomew's.  He  was 
a  Welshman  by  birth,  and  himself  bore  the  name  of  Inigo,  which 
he  gave  to  his  son.  He  was  a  cloth-worker,  and  had  to  compound 
with  his  creditors  in  1589.  As  to  the  name,  it  resembles  Jenico, 
which  is  not  uncommon  in  Ireland  ;  and  both  may  be  diminutives 
of  Ignatius.  "  Inigo  "  certainly  occurs  in  Spain  ;  but  it  does  so 
also  in  Wales  at  the  present  day. 

Inigo  Jones,  the  architect,  was  born  15th  July  1573,  and 
baptized  fourteen  days  later  in  the  church  of  St.  Bartholomew 
the  Less  :  the  parish  of  which  his  father,  a  Roman  Catholic,  was 
an  inhabitant.  Inigo,  the  elder,  was  not  fortunate  in  business, 
and  his  son,  the  younger  Inigo,  was  apprenticed  to  a  joiner.  By 
some  means,  with  which  we  are  not  acquainted,  he  contrived  or 
deserved  to  attract  the  attention  of  that  popular  young  noble- 
man, William,  third  Earl  of  Pembroke  of  his  family.  Pembroke 
sent  him  to  Italy  to  study  landscape  painting,  so  far  as  we  can 
judge ;  and  his  "  travelling  scholarship "  was  continued  by 
another  great  noble  who  wished  to  be  a  patron  of  the  arts, 
Thomas  Howard,  Earl  of  Arundel,  by  whose  help,  apparently, 
he  was  able  to  visit  Venice.  But  we  know  wonderfully  little 
about  his  early  life  and  career.  He  painted  a  few  landscapes, 
which  are  still  extant,  and,  no  doubt,  many  more  which  have 
perished  ;  and  his  art  seems  to  have  been  of  that  picturesque 
or  scenic  character  which  is  so  little  in  vogue  at  the  present  day — 
the  art  of  Claude  and  Poussin.  He  wanted  to  obtain  the  utmost 
possible  amount  of  effect  with  the  least  possible  amount  of  cost, 
Q 


114 


Modern  Architecture  in  England 


and  set  himself  to  find  out  how  to  attain  such  an  object.     This 
was  a  study  closely  akin  to  architecture.      1 1  has  little — too  little — 
connection  with  either  the  art  or  the  architecture  most  in  fashion 
now.     The  coloured  photographs  which  crowd  the  walls  of  the 
Academy  at  the  present  day,  would  have  had  no  more  charm  for 
him  than  for  his  great  contemporaries — Claude,  or  Shakespeare, 
or    Bacon.       He   learned,    we   know  not   where,   without  great 
expense  or  great    trouble,   how   a  cloud -capt   tower   could   be 
taught  to  rise  as  the  background  of  a  play  ;  or,  how  a  fairy  land- 
scape, far  reaching  by  sunny  rivers  and  high-walled  cities,  could 
form  a  permanent  scene.     Such  devices  were  unknown  in  England 
at  that  day.      He  learnt  them  in  Italy,  and  he  learnt  more.     He 
saw  from  his  experience  of  people  not  half  so  rich,  not  half  so 
poetical,  not  half  so  noble  as  the  contemporaries  and  country- 
men of  Shakespeare,  that  in  England  his  art  would  be  appre- 
ciated properly  :  the  art  which  showed  them  grander  and  more 
gorgeously  coloured  and  more  artificially  designed  scenes  than 
any  they  could  find  even  in  their  own  beautiful  island.      But  in 
order  to  produce  these  effects,  a  knowledge  of  proportion  came 
first.       Without  it,  he  could  have  done  nothing.     With  it,  he 
made  a  little  piece  of  stage  scenery,  some  thirty  or  forty  feet 
square,  look  a  hundred  feet — nay,  a  thousand.      If  he  could  have 
walked  through  some  of  our  modern  streets  and  seen  with  what 
success  great  theatres  and  international  institutions  are  made  to 
look  no  larger  than  mud  huts  or  thatched  cottages,  he  would 
have  wondered  what  our  artists  had  been  at  for  three  hundred 
years.     We  should  have  had  to  take  him  to  Dublin  or  to  Liver- 
pool to  prove  to  him  that  scenic  effect   is  still    cultivated  and 
studied,  though  not  in  those  places  which  think  themselves  the 
centres  of  civilisation.      The  fiict  is,  and   it  is  a  fact   not  to  be 


Inigo  Jones  115 

overlooked,  that  the  genius  of  Inigo  Jones,  like  the  genius  of 
Wren  and  Newton,  of  Mulready  and  Turner,  of  Watt  and 
Herschel,  consisted  in  the  power  of  concentrating  the  mind 
upon  a  problem  till  it  was  solved,  of  taking  infinite  pains  until 
the  desired  end  should  be  attained.  Too  many  of  our  modern 
artists  and  architects  forget  this  fact.  They  will  not  "take 
thought."  And  why  should  they?  The  general  public  do  not 
ask  for  it.  The  artist's  and  the  architect's  employers  do  not 
require  it.  All  such  things  as  harmony  of  colour  in  painting  and 
of  proportion  in  architecture  have  been  thrown  aside.  No  doubt, 
they  are  troublesome  things  to  study  ;  and  if  the  man  who 
employs  the  artist  is  ignorant  of  them,  why  should  time  be 
wasted  over  them  ?  But  we  too  often  omit  one  important  point. 
Let  a  man  be  ever  so  ignorant  about  proportion,  yet  when  it  is 
presented  to  him  he  recognises  its  superiority,  just  as  a  man  who 
has  never  heard  good  music  can  admire  a  sweet  air  the  first 
time  he  hears  it.  Without  proportion,  Jones  could  not  have 
influenced  the  taste  of  his  time  as  he  did.  But,  undoubtedly, 
there  existed  a  few  men,  and  they  chanced  to  have  wealth  and 
influence,  who  knew  good  art  when  they  saw  it,  and  accepted  it 
when  Inigo  offered  it  to  them.  His  contemporaries  are  loud  in 
his  praise  ;  and  many  buildings  are  attributed  to  him,  even  in 
foreign  countries,  that  he  can  never  have  been  concerned  with. 
His  journey  to  Denmark  assigns  to  him  the  castle  of  Fredens- 
borg  and  the  Bourse  of  Copenhagen  ;  and  his  possible  visit  to 
Scotland,  as  a  member  of  the  suite  of  the  Princess  Anne  of 
Denmark,  makes  him  the  designer  of  Heriot's  Hospital. 

As  a  fact,  however,  we  do  not  know  of  his  designing 
at  this  period  anything  more  important  than  the  scenery  of 
masques.      In  1605,  he  was  thus  employed  at  Oxford.      In  16 10, 


1 1 6  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

he  was  a  kind  of  stage-manager  for  the  Queen  and  Court  at  W^hite- 
hall,  and  had  his  memorable  quarrel  with  Ben  Jonson.  About 
this  same  time  he  was  appointed  Surveyor  to  Henry,  Prince  of 
Wales.  On  the  prince's  death,  he  returned  to  Italy,  where  the 
Italians  seem  immediately  to  have  appreciated  his  genius  ;  and 
two  buildings  at  Leghorn  are  pointed  out  as  his.  Some  are  also 
ascribed  to  him  at  Venice,  but  all  on  slender  grounds. 

Returning  to  England,  he  became  Surveyor-General  in  1615, 
and  from  this  time  devoted  himself  to  architecture. 

Among  his  first  works  for  the  Government,  was  an  alteration 
of  the  Star  Chamber  at  Westminster ;  and  he  made  a  complete 
design  for  a  new  building.  The  drawings  are  now  at  Worcester 
Collesfe,  Oxford,  but  were  never  carried  out.  It  is  worth  while 
here  to  remark  upon  the  large  number  extant  of  the  drawings  of 
Inigo  Jones;  and,  moreover,  upon  the  fact  that  of  them  all, 
hardly  any  represent  works  accomplished.  The  Duke  of 
Devonshire  inherited  a  great  many  from  Lord  Burlington. 
Others  are  in  the  British  Museum,  and  in  the  Royal  Library  at 
Windsor  Castle.  But  of  them  all,  not  one  seems  to  have  been 
carried  out.  It  is  true,  the  Banqueting  House  at  Whitehall, 
and  Ashburnham  House  at  Westminster,  are  very  nearly  what 
he  left  in  drawings,  but  they  are  not  exactly  so  ;  and  it  has  been 
suggested  that  his  drawings  were  used  up  and  worn  out  by  the 
workmen  employed  in  carr)ing  them  out.  I  have  already,  follow- 
ing the  lead  of  Mr.  Gotch,  endeavoured  to  show  that,  among  the 
predecessors  of  Inigo  Jones,  working  drawings  of  the  modern 
kind  were  not  in  use.  Workmen  had  their  traditional  rules,  and 
followed  them  according  to  the  department  on  which  they  were 
employed.  But  in  buildings  like  those  of  Jones,  where  the 
most  delicate  proportion  was  to  be  the  chief  feature,  and  mere 


Q 
M 


2 

J 
O 

u 

z 


Inigo  Joucs  119 

ornamental  workmanship  a  trifling  detail,  drawings  with  careful 
measurements  were  necessary.  Before  his  time,  architectural 
drawings  were  practically  unknown.  W'e  have  no  drawings 
of  the  great  churches  of  the  middle  ages.  A  few  occur  in 
France  and  Germany  ;  and  their  rarity  does  but  prove  the  rule. 
Since  the  time  of  Inigo  Jones,  they  have  abounded  in  England. 
This  leads  us  by  inference  to  a  further  fact.  The  carvers,  the 
lead-workers,  and  the  glaziers  of  King's  College  Chapel  or  of 
Middle  Temple  Hall  set  the  patterns  of  the  works  they  executed 
themselves.  They  wrought  according  to  the  traditions  of  their 
forefathers  and  predecessors.  But  Inigo  Jones  was  anxious 
that  everything  in  a  house  which  he  designed  should  be  his. 
He  could  allow  nothing  of  a  "  rule  of  thumb  "  kind.  Everything, 
down  to  the  balusters  of  the  staircase  and  up  to  the  plaster-work 
of  the  ceiling,  must  be  drawn  to  scale,  and,  what  was  more,  must 
be  executed  by  the  workmen  according  to  the  drawings.  In  the 
seventeenth  century,  as  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  later,  we 
may  be  sure  that  the  British  working  man,  while  professing  the 
most  advanced  ideas  in  politics  and  in  all  commercial  matters 
except  that  which  concerned  himself,  was  as  averse  to  any 
mechanical  innovation  as  if  he  had  lived  in  the  reign  of  Queen 
Victoria  and  been  called  a  Radical.  But  here  Inigo's  previous 
career  enabled  him  to  carry  out  and  maintain  a  change  which 
has  ever  since  prevailed.  He  had  been  obliged,  in  designing 
the  scenery  of  stage  plays  and  masques,  to  insist  on  the  closest 
accuracy  on  the  part  of  the  workmen  he  employed.  Any  one, 
who  has  ever  endeavoured  to  make  the  background  of  a 
theatrical  piece,  will  bear  me  out  when  I  say  that  an  error  of  a 
couple  of  inches  may  mar  the  whole  illusion.  This  Inigo  Jones 
knew  well.       His  men  were  accustomed  to  do  implicitly  what 


I20 


Mode  I'll  Anliitecture  in  England 


he  bid  them.  His  working  drawings  superseded  the  old  arrange- 
ments. It  was  no  longer  a  case  of  surveyor  and  workmen,  each 
skilled  in  his  own  department ;  but  it  was  a  case  of  architect,  and 
architect  alone.  In  this  way  Jones  led  up  to  Wren.  After 
Jones's  time,  drawings  were  the  rule.  The  result  was  twofold. 
Where  an  architect  was  an  artist,  he  might  feel  sure  his  work  was 
adequately  rendered.  Where  he  was — well,  I  will  not  mention 
the  men  who  are  in  my  mind,  but  say — a  builder,  he  no  longer 
had  the  skilled  artisans  of  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth  to  make 
things  right  for  him.  A  house  or  a  church,  however  poorly 
designed,  which  had  good  carving,  lead-work,  masonry,  and 
mouldings,  was  still  tolerable.  But  under  the  new  system,  which 
I  think  is  to  be  attributed  to  Inigo  Jones,  a  bad  architect  could 
make  good  workmen  perpetrate  bad  things  ;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  Wren  and  some  of  his  school,  who  could  not  possibly  have 
done  what  they  did  under  the  old  system,  were  able  to  design 
and  carry  out  buildings  which  have  ever  since  been  a  joy  to  us 
all.  We  must  put  the  gain  against  the  loss  ;  but  it  is  needful  to 
remember  that  Inigo  Jones  not  only  revolutionised  our  old 
architecture,  but  that  he  revolutionised  our  old  workmen,  and 
that  Wren  and  his  school  would  have  been  impossible  but  for 
him.  The  old  system  rapidly  died  out.  1  have  mentioned 
buildings  at  Oxford  which  continued  to  be  made  in  the  ancient 
fashion  ;  but  by  degrees  working  drawings  superseded  every 
other  method,  and  Wren  could  count  on  the  closest  fidelity  to 
his  designs.  In  one  particular,  as  we  shall  see,  he  reverted  for  a 
reason  to  the  old  way ;  and  when  he  found  a  great  artist  like 
Grinling  Gibbons,  he  left  him  at  liberty  to  follow  the  bent  of  his 
inclinations  and  his  genius.  As  a  result,  we  have  the  glorious 
series  of  carvings  which  so  greatly  adorn  St.  Paul's. 


Inigo  Jones 


121 


In  1615,  Inigo  Jones  took  up  the  office  of  Surveyor,  and  had 
a  house  in  Scotland  Yard.  He  seems  to  have  been  very  active 
in  the  practice  of  his  profession  for  many  employers  besides  the 
Government.  Of  his  London  work,  but  Httle  remains.  The 
western  side  of  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields  was  certainly  his  ;  but  only 
a  few  fragments  of  "Arch  Row,"  sadly  mutilated  and  plastered 
over,  can  be  identified  by  the  fleur-de-lis  and  rose  he  placed  on 
them  in  honour,  it  is  said,  of  the  King  and  Queen.  His  Lindsey 
House,  in  the  same  row,  is  better  visible.  The  same  Ionic  order 
is  employed  ;  but  here  he  ornamented  it  with  wreaths  on  each 
capital.  The  house  is  now  divided,  and  the  beautiful  centre 
window  is  built  up.  In  161 7,  he  commenced  to  work  at 
Greenwich,  where  he  built  the  Queen's  House,  which  now 
forms  the  centre  of  the  Royal  Naval  Schools.  Some  parts  of 
the  Hospital  buildings  are  also  of  his  design,  but  were  completed 
after  his  death  by  Webb.  In  the  Strand,  Inigo  Jones  built  the 
Queen's  palace  of  Somerset  House,  of  which  several  views  are 
extant.  Chambers  appears  to  have  followed  them  in  designing 
the  Strand  front  of  the  present  building.  He  also  built  York 
House,  on  the  site  now  covered  by  Buckingham  Street,  for  the 
Duke  of  Buckingham,  and  designed  the  beautiful  Water  Gate, 
carved  with  the  Villiers  arms,  which  now  stands  in  a  kind  of  pit 
at  the  foot  of  the  street,  and  is  best  seen  from  the  gardens  of  the 
Embankment.  This  gate  has  often  been  attributed  to  Jones's 
friend  Stone,  the  best  sculptor  of  the  day,  who  is  known  by 
other  fine  works  in  London.  But  there  can  be  no  doubt  that, 
though  the  carving  is  by  Stone,  the  design  is  by  Jones.  Many 
other  houses,  great  and  small,  have  been  attributed  to  Inigo; 
but  the  great  work  of  his  life  is  to  be  found  in  the  two  sets  of 
drawings  he  left  for  a  new  royal  palace  at  Whitehall,  made,  the 

R 


122  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

first  for  James  I.,  in  and  after  1619,  the  second  for  Charles  I., 
twenty  years  later. 

Three  sets  of  prints  from  these  designs  are  well  known  and 
not  uncommon,  and  will  be  referred  to  here  ;  but  there  are 
separate  drawings,  as  well,  in  the  collections  which  have  not 
been  published.  There  are  discrepancies  in  the  various  sets  of 
prints  ;  and  they  also  differ  from  the  single  view  of  the  Banqueting 
Hall  in  the  first  volume  of  the  Vitriivius  Britanuictis.  Nor  is 
this  all :  there  are  some  important  differences  between  all  the  prints 
and  the  actual  elevation  as  accurately  set  forth  in  photographs. 

Of  engravings  in  which  the  Hall  appears  as  part  of  a  great 
design,  we  may  compare  those  of  Kent  and  of  Campbell's  Vitru- 
vius  (vol.  ii.).  There  is  no  letterpress  to  the  Kent  view,  except 
to  say  that  this  particular  print  shows  "  the  front  of  one  side  of 
the  Palace,  within  the  Great  Court,  and  section  of  the  buildings 
at  each  end  of  it,  with  the  side  of  the  towers."  We  see  buildings 
repeated  within  this  court  which  closely  resemble  the  Hall, 
except  that  there  is  a  doorway  in  the  centre  on  the  ground 
storey  of  each.  By  the  plan,  we  learn  that  the  resembling 
buildings  were  different  internally,  and  that  the  farthest  from 
Charing  Cross,  the  more  southern,  was  broken  up  into  apart- 
ments. But  on  further  examination,  we  discover  that,  while  the 
northern  building  answers  to  the  Banqueting  Hall  that  now  is, 
there  was  to  be  a  corresponding  building  exactly  opposite  on  the 
other  side  of  the  same  Grand  Court ;  and  this  was  to  be  the 
Chapel.  The  existing  Hall  was  thus  to  be  only  one  of  four 
minor  features  of  a  court  of  altogether  gig  feet  3  inches  in  length, 
the  internal  measurement  being  740  feet ;  and  the  great  features 
were  to  be  two  elevations  facingf  each  other  on  the  rioht  and 
left,  containing  grand  state  apartments,  as  fine  again  as  the  Hall 


■■d 

3 

z 


o 


3 

o 


Inigo  Jones 


125 


which  alone  was  built.     The  rest  of  the  first  volume  of  Kent's 
Inigo  Jones  is  taken  up  with  the  details  of  this  grand  scheme. 


CENIKAL    POKIION    OK    UKPEK    SluRKV,     BANlJUETI-NG    HALL.     \M111LHALI. 

It  is  summarised  thus  in  Fergusson's  Modern  Architcctnre  :  "It 
was  proposed  that  the  palace  should  have  a  facade  facing  the 
river,  847  feet  in  extent,  and  a  corresponding  one  facing  the 
park,  of  the  same  dimensions.     These  were  to  be  joined  by  a 


1 26  Modeni  Arcliitccturc  in  England 

grand  facade  facing  Charing  Cross,  1152  feet  from  angle  to 
angle,  with  a  similar  one  facing  Westminster.  The  great  court 
of  the  palace,  378  wide  by  twice  that  number  of  feet  in  length, 
occupied  the  position  of  the  street  (120  feet  wide)  now  existing 
between  the  Banqueting  House  and  the  Horse  Guards.  Between 
this  and  the  river,  there  were  three  square  courts,  and  on  the 
side  towards  the  park  a  circular  court  In  the  centre,  with  two 
square  ones  on  either  hand.  The  greater  part  of  the  building 
was  intended  to  be  three  storeys  in  height,  each  storey  measuring, 
on  an  average,  about  30  feet,  and  the  whole  block,  with  podium 
and  balustrade,  about  100  feet.  The  rest,  like  the  Banqueting 
House,  was  to  have  been  of  two  storeys,  and  78  feet  high  "  (p.  257). 
When  w^e  remember  that  this  palace  was  not  only  to  be  con- 
structed of  the  best  and  most  costly  materials,  and  was  to  be 
finished  by  the  greatest  artists, — Rubens  himself  being  actually 
employed  to  decorate  the  ceiling  of  the  Banqueting  House  with 
a  picture  of  the  gods  receiving  James  I.  to  heaven, — but  was 
also  to  equal  Versailles  in  size,  we  need  not  wonder  that  the 
treasury  of  England  failed  to  sustain  the  burden.  It  was  to  be 
at  least  twice  as  large  as  our  new  Houses  of  Parliament ;  and  as 
the  actual  residence  of  a  reigning  king,  would,  of  necessity,  have 
been  far  more  magnificent.  We  get  a  good  idea  of  what  was  in 
Jones's  mind  from  a  print  of  large  size  showing  the  projected 
palace  in  a  bird's-eye  view.  It  was  published  in  1749  by  T.  M. 
M tiller,  an  engraver,  together  with  a  series  showing  the  sides. 
A  month's  study  of  them  would  teach  a  modern  architectural 
student  more  than  a  year  in  a  "  mock  Gothic  "  office.  The 
whole  thing  is,  of  course,  so  far  as  substantiality  goes,  only  a 
scene-painter's  day-dream,  a  pictorial  poem,  but  well  worthy  of 
examination  for  the  improvement  of  the  taste,  the  information  of 


Inigo  Jones  127 

the  fancy,  the  exercise  of  criticism, — for  it  is  not  without  faults, — 
but  above  all  for  an  introduction  to  scientific  proportion,  the 
harmony  of  architecture.  Too  often  the  modern  architect  knows 
so  little  about  it  himself  that  he  cannot  teach  it  to  a  pupil.  As 
I  have  said,  there  are  faults  in  these  designs,  and  one  of  the 
worst  of  them  was  the  difficulty  of  making  a  sufficiently  wide 
archway  for  the  old  street  and  right  of  way  of  Whitehall  ;  but 
this  might  no  doubt  have  been  overcome  by  a  man  of  Inigo's 
ft  "ility  of  resource  and  invention.  To  me,  the  difficulty  is  the 
un  Mty  induced  by  impossibility  ;  but  here  again,  though  the 
wholv.  *"  his  delightful  tale  could  not  come  true,  each  single  in- 
cident w,  s  beautiful  and  poetical  in  itself,  and  the  only  fragment 
which  we  have  has  been  a  source  of  pleasure  to  men  of  taste  for 
centuries. 

The  next  engravings  in  which  we  find  the  Hall  represented 
as  part  of  a  great  design  are  of  a  very  different  character.  The 
prints  so  far  described  relate  to  the  design  made  for  James  I.  in 
or  soon  after  1619.  In  Campbell's  Vitrnviiis  Britatuticus  we 
have  a  design  thus  marked  on  the  plate  :  "  The  Elevation  of  a 
Design  for  the  Palace  at  Whitehall  towards  the  Park,  as  it 
was  presented  to  His  Majesty  King  Charles  I.  by  the  famous 
Inigo  Jones,  Anno  1639."  Fergusson  characterises  this  as  the 
work  of  Jones's  decline,  which  it  is  not,  and  as  "  the  impoverished 
makeshift  "  forced  from  him  by  the  troubles  of  the  times,  which 
it  may  be.  But  it  has  points  of  great  beauty  and  shows  more 
experience  and  more  of  that  power  of  designing  without  excessive 
ornament  which  he  had  first  displayed  at  Covent  Garden.  This 
second  of  the  two  designs,  that  for  Charles,  had  only  two  of  the 
four  Banqueting  Hall  elevations,  and  came  but  just  up  to  the 
edge  of  the  street  of  Whitehall.     There  are  difficulties  in  recon- 


128  Modern  ArcJiitectnre  in  England 

ciling  the  letterpress  with  the  engravings ;  but  the  difficulty 
about  the  narrow  archway  through  which  the  roadway  from 
Charing  Cross  was  to  run  to  Westminster,  of  which  Fergusson 
says  so  much,  was  got  rid  of  by  abolishing  all  that  was  to  stand 
west  of  that  line,  by  making  the  Banqueting  Hall  and  its  com- 
panion, a  chapel,  open  to  the  street,  and  by  constructing  midway 
between  them  a  very  handsome  gateway  two  storeys  high  into  the 
principal  court.  The  side  toward  the  river  was  to  be  plain  but 
handsome,  and  very  picturesque  ;  the  design  of  the  corner  towers 
and  the  cupolas  being  as  good  as  anything  in  the  Jacobean 
drawings.  The  engraver  has  neglected  to  put  the  points  of  the 
compass  on  his  plate,  which  is  calculated  to  puzzle  the  reader,  and 
evidently  has  puzzled  Fergusson  and  others  ;  but  assuming  that 
the  Banqueting  Hall  was  the  building  in  the  print  to  the  left  of 
the  gateway,  it  will  be  evident  that  the  whole  palace  was  intended 
to  cover  only  about  half  the  space  of  the  palace  originally  pro- 
jected by  James  I.  It  was  to  be  two  storeys  high  throughout 
above  the  basement. 

The  Hall  is  i  lo  feet  long  by  55  feet,  and  the  same  in  height. 
It  is  thus  a  double  cube — a  very  perfect  proportion  in  itself,  and 
one  which  Barry  judiciously  adopted  for  the  principal  chambers 
of  his  Palace  of  Westminster.  The  back  and  front  are  alike, 
and  show  two  storeys  above  a  massive  but  not  rusticated  base- 
ment. The  first  floor  is  Ionic,  the  order  being  beautifully 
designed  and  carved  in  his  best  manner  by  Nicholas  Stone,  who 
acted  as  master  mason.  The  upper  storey  is  Composite,  and 
there  is  a  carved  wreath,  forming  a  frieze  between  the  columns, 
of  which  four  in  the  centre  are  engaged,  three  at  each  end  being 
Hat  pilasters.  The  windows  in  the  lower  range  are  alternately 
round  and  pedimentcd,  those  of  the   upper  storey   being   flat. 


mm).^m!l^  it^??i;gi,  jMj^LJHk^^  mnii.^^mm^l  _  ;___,^x^!^Tg^ 


*-=t 


PORTICO,  OLD  ST.  PAUL'S.     BY  INIGO  JONES. 


Inigojoiies  131 

The  parapet  is  finished  with  a  balustrade,  and  was  probably 
intended  to  have  been  decorated  with  statues.  About  1724  the 
Hall  was  first  fitted  up  for  a  chapel ;  the  original  chapel  of  the 
palace  having  been  on  the  river  face.  For  this  older  chapel 
Jones  had  designed  a  beautiful  altar-piece  or  reredos,  which  was 
given  eventually  to  Westminster  Abbey,  where  it  was  destroyed 
some  years  ago  by  way  of  "restoration,"  and  the  present  un- 
sightly and  poverty-stricken  erection  substituted.  Jones  did 
not,  of  course,  fit  up  Whitehall  for  a  chapel ;  and  the  chief 
decorations,  except  Rubens's  ceiling,  were,  no  doubt,  by  Sir 
John  Soane,  who  carried  out  extensive  works  in  1829. 

The  repair  of  old  St  Paul's  was  carried  on  by  Inigo  Jones 
during  a  series  of  years.  Accepting  the  Norman  nave  as  a 
building  of  Romanesque  character,  he  added  to  it  a  magnificent 
western  portico,  which  must  assuredly  have  been  the  most 
beautiful  of  its  kind  in  England.  It  consisted  often  monolithic 
Corinthian  columns  in  front,  the  corner  columns  being  square, 
and  stood  out  well,  with  three  intercolumniations  at  the  sides. 
In  the  course  of  his  work  on  the  Cathedral,  Inigo  Jones  pulled 
down  a  portion  of  the  church  of  St.  Gregory,  which  stood  in  way 
of  his  portico  ;  and  his  action  was  bitterly  complained  of  by  the 
parishioners.  The  portico  was  completed  in  the  same  year,  1631, 
as  the  church  of  St  Katharine  Cree  ;  and  if  Jones  designed  both, 
as  seems  very  probable,  the  proof  afforded  of  his  versatility  is 
remarkable.  The  same  year  also  saw  the  building  of  St  Paul's 
in  Covent  Garden  :  a  very  curious  church  in  several  respects. 
Like  Whitehall,  it  has  been  severely  restored  ;  but  its  salient 
points  are  still  visible.  There  is  an  account  in  Vitruvius  of  a 
style  in  vogue  in  Etruria  ;  but  no  example  was  known  to  exist. 
In  the  British  Museum,  among  some  Roman  marbles,  there  is  a 


132  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

bas-relief  which  shows  a  house  in  what  must  be  the  style 
Vitruvius  describes  as  "  Tuscan."  From  the  description  of 
Vitruvius,  Jones  made  out  certain  characteristics,  such  as  the 
massive  columns  and  the  overhanging  eaves.  He  had  orders 
from  Lord  Bedford  to  make  a  very  plain  building, — a  barn,  in 
fact, — and  is  said  to  have  replied,  "  You  shall  have  the  handsomest 
barn  in  England."  Walpole  tells  this  rather  idle  tale.  There  is 
no  reason  to  doubt  that  Jones  designed  his  church  to  harmonise 
with  the  piazzas  and  other  buildings  of  the  square  upon  which  it 
looked.  As  the  square  is  to  eastward  of  the  church,  the  portico 
is  at  the  east  end.  The  architect,  owing  to  the  custom  peculiar 
to  England  of  having  the  chancel  at  that  end,  was  not  permitted 
to  make  his  entrance  there.  The  portico,  in  short,  is  a  mere 
adjunct  of  the  square,  and  no  integral  part  of  the  church. 
Though  Inigo's  hand  is  very  plainly  marked  upon  the  whole 
design,  it  is  well  to  observe  that  St.  Paul's  has  been  subjected  to 
repeated  alterations.  It  was  almost  rebuilt  in  16S8.  Lord 
Burlington  restored  the  portico  in  1727.  The  whole  fabric  was 
renewed  in  17S8,  by  Hardwick.  Finally,  it  was  burnt  down  in 
1795,  and  rebuilt  by  the  same  architect.  A  modern  architect 
was  employed  on  it  in  1S72,  and  carried  out  extensive  alterations  ; 
and,  in  1888,  the  west  end  turret  was  taken  down,  and  the  red 
brick  of  the  walls  was  refaced  and  coloured.  A  hideous  cast-iron 
railing  at  each  side  replaces  the  original  walls  and  arches. 

The  building  has  been  alternately  praised  and  abused.  One 
architect,  Ralph,  considered  it  the  most  perfect  piece  of  architec- 
ture that  the  art  of  man  can  produce.  Horace  Walpole  thought  it 
wanting  in  dignity  or  beauty.  Brayley,  a  good  and  impartial  judge, 
says  it  forms  a  striking  object  viewed  from  the  market-place,  and  it 
is  known  to  have  excited  Lord  Burlington's  deepest  admiration. 


11 


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Ini go  Jones  i35 

The  following  more  technical  description  is  mainly  taken 
from  Brayley.  The  portico  on  the  eastern  front  consists  of  two 
lofty  columns  and  two  square  piers  of  similar  character,  support- 
ing an  angular  pediment.  The  pillars  diminish  considerably 
towards  the  capitals.  The  interior  is  very  plain  ;  the  chief 
entrance  being  from  the  west  end.  The  ceiling  is  flat.  The 
Tuscan  style  allowed  the  frieze  to  be  dispensed  with,  and  other 
elements  of  cost  to  be  omitted  ;  while  the  projection  of  the  roof 
enabled  the  architect  to  obtain  considerable  picturesqueness,  as 
well  as  dignity.  The  roof,  covered  with  slate,  was  formerly  of 
tiles,  which  must  have  added  greatly  to  the  effect. 

Fergusson,  whose  praise  of  this  building  is  not  very  warm, 
adds  sensibly:  "  No  one  can  mistake  its  being  a  church  ;  and  it 
would  be  extremely  difficult,  if  possible,  to  quote  another  in 
which  so  grand  an  effect  is  produced  by  such  simple  means." 

There  is  no  doubt  as  to  Inigo's  own  opinion.  He  desired, 
by  his  will,  that  on  his  monument  in  the  church  of  St.  Benet, 
Paul's  Wharf,  should  be  placed  views  in  relief  of  the  portico  of 
St.  Paul's  and  of  the  church  of  Covent  Garden. 

Ashburnham  House  stands  within  Little  Dean's  Yard  at 
Westminster.  Its  exterior  is  of  brick,  unrelieved  by  ornamental 
features.  At  one  time,  as  in  all  Jones's  work,  the  proportions 
were  sufficient  to  call  attention  to  it ;  but  the  addition  of  a  storey, 
and  other  changes,  deprived  it  even  of  this  characteristic.  The 
last  canon  who  lived  in  it  seems  to  have  done  his  best  to  preserve 
what  was  left.  It  now  belongs  to  the  school,  and  is  taken 
excellent  care  of,  and  freely  shown.  The  late  Sir  Gilbert  Scott 
is  said  to  have  doubted  that  it  was  designed  by  Jones  ;  in  other 
words,  he  wanted  to  pull  it  down,  but  additional  proofs  have 
come  to  hand.     Nevertheless,  it  is  right  to  mention  that  Batty 


136  Modern  Ajxliitccturc  in  England 

Langley,   in    1737,    says   it  was    built    by   Webb    from   Jones's 
designs.     To  this  opinion  Mr.  Marks  also  seems  to  incline. 

The  hall  is  not  remarkable,  being  merely  a  well-proportioned 
rectangular  apartment.  The  staircase,  which  opens  from  it  on 
the  eastern  side,  is  the  principal  feature  of  the  design.  The 
house,  it  is  clear,  was  built  on  part  of  the  site  of  the  Refectory  of 
Westminster  Abbey ;  and  a  thick  wall  of  mediaeval  masonry 
divides  it  longitudinally.  Remains  of  something  like  a  buttery 
hatch  still  remain  on  the  ground  -  floor.  The  staircase  is 
described  in  precise  language  in  Britton  and  Pugin's  Edifices 
(ii.  90).  "  Of  nearly  a  square  shape,  with  four  ranges  of  steps, 
placed  at  right  angles  one  with  the  other,  and  as  many  landings, 
it  was  the  passage  from  the  ground  to  the  first  floor.  Its  sides 
are  panelled  against  the  wall,  and  guarded  by  a  rising  balustrade  : 
the  whole  is  crowned  by  an  oval  dome,  springing  from  a  bold 
and  enriched  entablature  supported  by  a  series  of  twelve  columns. 
At  the  landing  are  fluted  Ionic  columns."  The  uppermost 
landing  gives  access  to  a  dining-room  by  a  very  deep  doorway 
cut  through  the  refectory  wall.  The  alcove  in  the  dining-room 
Is  by  a  later  hand.  Another  doorway  admits  to  the  anteroom  ; 
and  that,  by  a  beautiful  doorway,  to  the  drawing-room,  in  which 
there  is  a  richly  ornamented  ceiling  by  Inigo,  formerly  sur- 
mounted by  a  small  oval  dome  or  lantern,  removed  no  doubt 
when  the  upper  storey  was  added  to  the  building.  Views  of 
Ashburnham  House,  within  and  without,  appear  in  many  books, 
such  as  Ware,  Batty  Langley,  Smith's  Westminster,  Britton  and 
Pugin,  and  others.  The  staircase  has  been  many  times  imitated  ; 
and  certainly  no  better  model  can  be  conceived.  It  has  been 
introduced  also  into  pictures.  Mr.  Laslett  Pott  makes  it  the 
?,c&nQ.  o'i\{\'~,  Disinherited.     Sir  John  Soane  had  large  drawings 


z 

J 


o 


I ni go  Jones  139 

made  of  it  for  his  lectures  at  the  Royal  Academy.  They  are 
now  with  the  lectures  in  the  Soane  Museum.  There  are  five 
views  of  Ashburnham  House  in  the  series  published  by  the 
Society  for  Photographing  Relics  of  Old  London. 

A  house  in  St.  Martin's  Lane,  No.  31,  is  said  to  be  by  Jones, 
but  is  not  very  interesting.  In  1634,  he  designed  a  monument 
for  St.  Giles's-in-the-Fields  to  commemorate  his  friend,  George 
Chapman  the  poet.  He  is  also  often  credited  with  the  stables 
of  Kensington  Palace,  then  Nottingham  House  ;  but  it  is  pretty 
certain  that  for  "  Kensington "  we  should  read  Kennington, 
where  Prince  Henry  had  a  house.  Charlton  House,  near 
Greenwich,  is  also  attributed  to  him,  with  the  Fellows'  Lodgings, 
Christ's  College,  Cambridge,  and  with  Brympton,  a  manor-house 
in  Somerset.     A  portion  of  Brympton  is  very  like  his  work. 

In  the  country,  Jones's  best  piece  of  work  is  a  little  Ionic 
bridge  at  Wilton,  exactly  imitated  by  Wood  at  Prior  Park,  near 
Bath.  He  carried  out  some  work  at  Wilton  House,  but  not 
very  much  ;  and  both  there  and  at  Amesbury  and  Greenwich, 
buildings  from  his  design  were  executed  after  his  death  by 
Webb.  The  central  block  of  Cobham  Hall,  near  Gravesend, 
containing  the  beautiful  Music  Room,  is  always,  though  without 
absolute  proof,  attributed  to  him.  It  groups  charmingly  with 
the  older  work,  with  its  engaged  Corinthian  columns,  its  cornice 
and  its  doorway.  At  Cambridge,  the  Pepysian  Library  at 
Magdalen  has  been  very  doubtfully  assigned  to  him  ;  and  at 
Oxford,  the  beautiful  porch  of  St.  Mary's  Church.  A  porch  at 
Magdalen  used  to  be  called  his.  It  was  destroyed  some  years 
ago,  and  a  so-called  Gothic  design  by  Pugin  substituted.  It  is 
very  ugly  and  unsuitable.  There  is  a  gateway  in  the  Botanic 
Gardens,  opposite  Magdalen  College,  which  resembles  his  work. 


140  Modern  Architectitrc  in  England 

Two  or  three  country  houses  are,  or  have  been,  very  like  his 
work.  Of  Coleshill  in  Berkshire  we  cannot  be  sure,  though  it 
is  positively  asserted  to  have  been  built  by  Jones  in  1650,  and 
certainly  looks  very  like  his  handiwork.  Lord  Burlington 
believed  in  Coleshill,  and  employed  Ware  to  make  drawings  of 
it  (see  Vit.  Brit.  v.  86).  A  gateway  at  Holland  House  is  by 
Jones,  having  been  carved  by  Stone,  and  another  gateway, 
removed  from  Beaufort  House,  Chelsea,  was  presented  by  Sir 
Hans  Sloane  to  Lord  Burlington,  and  is  now  at  Chiswick. 

The  best  authorities  as  to  the  life  and  work  of  this  great 
artist  are  not  to  be  found  in  the  most  popular  books.  Peter 
Cunningham  wrote  a  biography  which  is  esteemed  the  best,  but 
it  is  rather  scarce  ;  and  as  Cunningham,  though  he  knew  London 
well,  was  no  architectural  critic,  we  are  sometimes  at  a  loss. 
The  best  account  of  Inigo  Jones  is  undoubtedly  that  in  the 
studiously  dry  article,  written  anonymously,  in  the  Dictionary  of 
National  Biography.  It  is  so  crammed  with  facts  and  dates 
that  it  literally  took  me  three  days'  hard  work  "to  make  it  up." 
It  is  almost  without  criticism,  and  the  reader  can  therefore  learn 
only  half,  and  that  the  least  important  half,  of  Jones's  strange 
story  from  it.  Nevertheless,  two  very  different,  though  intimately 
associated,  kinds  of  readers  are  interested  in  it.  We  turn  to  it 
to  learn  about  the  history  of  London  ;  and  we  turn  to  it  also  to 
help  us  to  a  clear  understanding  of  the  chief  architectural 
problems  of  that  day.  The  Civil  War  prevented  Inigo  Jones 
from  founding  what  would  now  be  called  a  school,  but  he  left 
traditions  ;  and  his  loyal  friend  and  executor,  John  Webb,  took 
care,  when  settled  times  came  again,  that  the  great  teacher's 
name  should  not  be  forgotten.  With  a  rare  generosity,  while  he 
constantly  used  the  designs  left  to  him  that  they  might  be  used, 


o 

H 

0. 


Inigo  Jones  143 

he  as  constantly  attributed  them  to  "  the  vanished  hand,"  and 
did  not  even  claim  some  designs  in  which  his  own  share  must 
have  been  by  far  the  largest.  The  Civil  War  put  a  stop  to  all 
artistic  development,  and  we  have  nothing  like  the  brilliant 
following  which  Wren  left :  no  Hawksmoor,  Gibbs,  Kent,  or 
Burlington.  A  very  good  and  appreciative  account  of  the  works 
of  Jones  appeared  in  the  Portfolio  in  1888,  from  the  pen  of 
Mr.  Reginald  Blomfield. 

His  popularity  and  fame  as  a  great  architect  are  curiously 
attested  by  the  existence,  as  late  as  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  of  a  house  in  the  Strand  called  after  him.  Dart's  great 
work,  the  Cathedral  of  Canterbury,  was  published  in  1726  by 
"J.  Smith,  at  Inego  Jones's  Head,  near  the  Fountain  Tavern." 

His  last  years  fell  on  troubled  times.  He  followed  Charles 
to  Oxford  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  and  is  said  to  have  lent 
the  King  a  sum  of  money.  We  next  find  him  shut  up  in  Basing 
House  while  it  was  besieged  by  Cromwell.  He  was  able  to 
prove  that  he  was  not  there  as  a  belligerent,  and  eventually  got 
off  with  a  fine  of  ^545  and  a  payment  of  ^500  to  compound  for 
his  estate. 

On  the  2ist  June  1652,  having  been  in  declining  health  for 
some  time,  he  died  at  Somerset  House  in  the  Strand.  He  had 
never  married,  and  the  bulk  of  his  property  went  to  cousins,  one 
of  whom  had  married  John  Webb,  who  was  a  good  architect 
himself  and  had  much  assisted  Inigo  in  his  later  years.  He 
inherited  all  his  drawings  and  designs  with  an  express  idea  that 
they  should  be  kept  together,  as  they  were  indeed  at  first ;  but 
William  Webb,  John's  son,  seems  to  have  been  careless  of  them. 
Clarke's  collection  of  the  drawings  was  bought  from  William's 
widow,  and  was  left  in   1730  to  Worcester  College.     Kent  and 


144  Modern  Architectinr  in  Rugland 

his  friend  Lord  Ikirlington  also  formed  a  large  collection,  which 
has  lately  been  removed,  I  hear,  to  Chatsworth  ;  but  the  Duke 
of  Devonshire  exhibited  a  great  many  at  the  Burlington  Club  in 
1884,  and  some  more  at  the  Royal  Institute  of  Architects  in  1892. 

From  Somerset  House,  Jones's  remains  were  removed  to 
St.  Benet's,  Paul's  Wharf,  where  they  were  buried  with  those  of 
his  father,  the  Welshman.  By  a  curious  coincidence,  St.  Benet's 
was  selected  a  few  years  ago  for  the  use  of  a  Welsh  congregation, 
who  opened  it  for  their  service  in  1867.  But  the  actual  church 
in  which  Inigo  was  buried  was  destroyed  in  the  Great  Fire  ;  and 
the  present  one  was  built  by  Wren  in  1683.  It  is  in  red  brick, 
and  very  picturesque,  with  carved  festoons  over  the  windows. 
Inigo  left  ;^ioo  for  his  monument,  as  well  as  ^10  to  the  poor, 
and  /lOO  for  his  funeral  expenses.  The  monument,  in  marble, 
was  of  course  destroyed  with  the  church  ;  but  the  burial  is  recorded 
in  the  register,  26th  June  1652. 

In  concluding  this  chapter,  I  must  refer  the  reader  to  some 
expressions  made  use  of  by  Mr.  Blomfield  in  the  articles  already 
referred  to  as  having  appeared  in  the  Portfolio  in  1888.  I  quote 
them  because  Mr.  Blomfield  is  a  practical  architect,  which  I  am 
not ;  and  1  wish  to  show  that  what  I  have  said  as  to  the  chief 
merit  of  Inigo  Jones,  his  sense  of  proportion,  and  as  to  its  neglect 
at  the  present  day,  is  not  too  strong.  Mr.  Blomfield  observes 
that  "  in  all  his  studies,  the  one  point  on  which  he  concentrated 
his  energies  was  proportion."  He  resolved  designs  into  their 
constituent  parts.  He  showed,  for  instance,  that  the  Temple  of 
Jupiter  "  was  based  on  a  series  of  circles,  and  its  proportions 
arrived  at  by  dividing  the  largest  diameter  into  six  parts  and 
variously  recombining  the  parts.  No  man  saw  more  clearly  that 
proportion    is   the    keystone   of  architecture."       Mr.    Blomfield 


c  c/] 


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Inigo  Jones  147 

asserts  truly  that  what  "  values  "  are  to  the  painter,  proportions 
are  to  the  architect ;  and  he  follows  with  a  passage  which  I  am 
glad  he  has  written  and  not  I,  though  I  agree  with  every  word 
of  it,  and  could  adopt  it  as  the  motto  or  argument  of  this  whole 
volume.  "  The  Renaissance  of  the  nineteenth  century  does  not 
readily  take  to  drudgery  ;  it  prefers  its  own  conceits  to  such  self- 
abnegation,  and  finds  it  an  easier  and  more  remunerative  busi- 
ness to  play  to  that  insatiable  craving  for  the  picturesque  which 
can  only  end  by  degrading  the  profoundest  and  most  permanent 
of  the  arts  into  a  mere  affair  of  fashions.  It  is  significant,"  he 
continues,  "that  in  his  working  drawings  it  was  Inigo  Jones's 
custom  to  make  a  sketch,  and  then  specify  all  the  proportions  of 
the  design  in  writing  at  the  side.  Our  habit  is  to  arrive  at  our 
proportions  in  the  process  of  making  the  drawing." 


VI 

WREN 


VI 
WREN 

Wren  and  Oliver  Cromwell — Wren  and  Webb — The  Chapel  of  Pembroke  College, 
Cambridge — The  Sheldonian  Theatre — The  Library,  Trinity  College,  Cambridge 
— Wren  at  Paris  —  The  Great  Fire — Windsor — Chelsea  —  Greenwich  —  Tlie 
Monument — Hampton  Court — Kensington. 

Wren  was  twenty  when  Inigo  died.  We  have  a  somewhat 
pleasing  picture  of  him  about  this  time  ;  but  it  does  not  connect 
him  with  architecture.  He  had  already,  at  Cambridge,  made 
himself  a  name  as  a  mathematical  student,  had  devised  an 
astronomical  instrument,  and  dabbled  successfully  in  poetry. 
In  1644,  Evelyn  met  him,  and  describes  him  as  "that  miracle 
of  a  youth."  Miss  Phillimore,  in  her  book  on  S/r  Christopher 
Wren,  conjectures  that  he  must  have  met  Inigo  Jones,  whose 
portico  at  St.  Paul's  he  spoke  of  as  "an  exquisite  piece  in  itself" 
When  he  came  to  live  in  London,  he  made  acquaintance  with 
Cromwell's  son  -  in  -  law,  Claypole,  and  through  him  with 
Cromwell  himself,  who  offered  to  release  Wren's  uncle, 
Matthew  Wren,  the  old  Bishop  of  Ely,  who  had  long  lain  in  the 
Tower.  But  the  Bishop  would  not  accept  the  Protector's  terms, 
and  continued  a  prisoner  during  the  brief  remainder  of 
Cromwell's  life. 

Architecture  was  at  a  stand-still ;  yet   it  would   seem    that 
during  the  Commonwealth  Wren  studied  it,  and  with  the  same 


152  Modern  Arcliifcctnir  in  England 

earnestness  which  he  brought  to  every  pursuit  in  which  he 
engaged.  Astronomy  was,  however,  his  chief  object ;  and  he 
was  appointed  Savilian  professor  at  Oxford  the  year  after  the 
Restoration,  and  employed  himself  in  making  a  lunar  telescope. 
The  same  year,  1661,  he  was  created  both  D.C.L.  at  Oxford 
and  LL.D.  at  Cambridge.  That  he  was  known  to  have  made 
some  progress  in  architecture  is  proved  by  an  event  which 
connects  his  name  in  an  interesting  way  with  that  of  Inigo 
Jones.  While  Inigo  was  yet  alive,  the  King  had  given,  or 
sold,  the  reversion  of  his  office  as  Surveyor-General  of  Works, 
to  Sir  John  Denham.  The  office  was  a  barren  one  during 
the  Commonwealth  ;  but  at  the  Restoration  many  things  had  to 
be  done  for  which  Denham  was  wholly  unfit.  Evelyn  char- 
acterises him  as  "better  poet  than  architect."  Webb,  Jones's 
pupil,  assisted  him,  informally,  we  may  suppose,  and  had  a 
promise  of  the  reversion  of  the  office.  Webb  seems  to  have 
died  before  Denham  ;  and  when  Charles  decided  to  complete 
the  building  of  the  palace  at  Greenwich,  it  is  probable  that 
Evelyn  recommended  Wren  to  the  King.  He  did  not  come 
to  the  office  ignorant  of  architecture,  and  had  now  a  great 
opportunity  of  putting  his  skill  to  the  test. 

How  he  had  learned  to  design,  we  may  judge  by  a  piece  of 
architectural  work,  the  first  in  which  he  was  ever  engaged. 
This  was  the  chapel  of  Pembroke  College  at  Cambridge. 
Bishop  Matthew  Wren,  his  uncle,  on  emerging  from  the  Tower, 
where  he  had  been  imprisoned  for  eighteen  years,  determined, 
as  a  thank-offering,  to  build  a  new  chapel  for  his  old  college, 
and  employed  his  nephew  to  make  the  plans.  A  sum  of  ^^5000 
was  set  apart ;  but  the  chapel  only  cost  ^3658.  The  old  chapel, 
repaired,  became  the  library  ;  and  the  new  one  was  consecrated 


Wren  153 

by  Bishop  Wren,  and  appropriately  dedicated  to  St.  Matthew 
on  the  festival  of  that  saint  (21st  September),  1665.  It  was  a 
very  interesting  building,  and  of  great  importance  in  the  history 
of  architecture  ;  for  Christopher  Wren,  following,  as  well  as  he 
could,  whatever  he  may  have  imbibed  from  Webb  and  others  of 
the  tradition  of  Inigo  Jones,  endeavoured  to  make  it  beautiful 
by  proportion  alone,  and  without  ornament.  In  this  effort  he 
succeeded  completely  :  the  chapel  of  Pembroke  for  two 
hundred  years  remained  a  standing  protest  against  the  work  of 
architects  who,  knowing  nothing  about  proportion,  sought  to 
cover  their  ignorance  with  excessive  and  unmeaning  ornament. 
Naturally,  it  was  e.xceedingly  obnoxious  to  the  architects  of  the 
Gothic  revival,  who  of  course  professed  to  see  no  merit  in  it 
whatever.  In  1S81,  the  authorities  of  the  College,  who  had 
already  destroyed  their  ancient  hall,  the  oldest  building  of  the 
University,  allowed  a  modern  architect  to  enlarge  it.  This  he 
did  by  adding  20  feet  to  its  length,  and  by  stripping  the 
plaster  from  the  exterior.  The  result  is  extremely  curious,  and 
well  worthy  of  study.  What  was,  from  its  perfect  proportions, 
one  of  the  most  satisfactory  buildings  in  Cambridge,  at  once 
declined  into  an  unmeaning  rectangular  structure,  too  long  for 
its  width  and  height,  but  otherwise  rather  insignificant.  The 
College  authorities  escaped  a  greater  danger,  as  one  architect 
had  wanted  to  pull  it  down  altogether.  At  the  reconsecration  of 
the  chapel,  the  service  was  used  which,  with  certain  pecu- 
liarities, Bishop  Wren  had  used  at  the  original  ceremony. 

Meanwhile  Wren,  in  the  ordinary  course  of  the  business  of 
his  office  under  Denham,  had  an  excellent  opportunity  of  further 
studying  the  work  of  Inigo  Jones.  He  was  called  upon  to 
repair  the  ravages  of  the  Puritans  at  St.    Paul's.     Already  he 

X 


154  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

projected  "a  dome  or  rotunda,  and  upon  the  cupola,  for  outward 
ornament,  a  lantern  with  a  spring  top  to  rise  proportionately." 
It  would  be  interesting  to  know  what  he  meant  here  by  "pro- 
portionately " ;  but  had  his  views  been  carried  out,  the  pro- 
portions would  probably  have  been  altered  by  some  Gothic 
architect  of  our  own  day,  unconscious  that  proportion  has 
anything  to  do  with  architecture.  The  Great  Plague  stopped 
all  work  in  the  city  ;  and  before  it  could  be  resumed,  the  Great 
Fire  came  and  ruined  the  old  church.  In  1664,  Dean  Barwick 
had  "laid  his  own  relics  in  those  of  his  church,"  as  his  epitaph 
said,  and  was  succeeded  by  Sancroft. 

Sheldon,  who  was  at  this  time  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
was  anxious  to  mark  his  old  connection  with  Oxford,  where 
he  had  been  Warden  of  All  Souls.  He  accordingly  com- 
missioned Wren  to  design  a  University  Theatre  ;  for  hitherto 
the  "comitia"  and  the  "  encoenia  "  had  been  held  in  St.  Mary's 
Church,  and  the  jesting  usual  on  such  occasions  had  been 
carried  on  within  the  sacred  walls.  Evelyn  visited  Oxford 
when,  as  he  says  in  his  Diary,  the  foundations  had  been  newly 
laid  and  the  whole  designed  by  "that  incomparable  genius,  my 
worthy  friend.  Dr.  Christopher  Wren,  who  showed  me  the 
model,  not  disdaining  my  advice  in  some  particulars."  It  was 
on  this  occasion  that  he  found  Robert  Boyle,  Wren,  and  Wallis 
in  the  tower  of  the  schools,  "  with  an  inverted  tube,  or  telescope, 
observing  the  discus  of  the  sun,  for  the  passing  of  Mercury 
that  day  before  it ;  but  the  latitude  was  so  great  that  nothing 
appeared."  It  will  be  perceived  that  Wren  did  not,  so  far, 
let  architecture  interfere  with  the  pursuit  of  his  astronomical 
studies. 

His  great  object  in  the  Theatre,  which  cost  the  Archbishop 


Wreu  1 55 

_;^ 1 5,000,  was  to  cover  an  area  of  70  feet  by  80  with  a  roof, 
unsupported  by  any  arch  or  column  in  the  interior.  The  roof, 
still  one  of  the  most  extensive  known,  was  repaired  in  1802. 
The  University  press  was  above  it  in  a  kind  of  loft  from  1669 
to  1713  ;  and  books  printed  at  Oxford  bore  a  view  of  the  Theatre 
on  the  title-page  down  to  1759.  These  views  show  a  kind  of 
louvre  or  cupola,  similar  to  what  Wren  had  placed  on  his  chapel 
at  Cambridge ;  and  there  were  large  dormers.  The  turret 
disappeared  later,  but  was  restored  or  replaced  by  Blore  about 
1847.  The  building  is  said  to  resemble  in  plan  the  Theatre  of 
Marcellus  at  Rome.  The  front,  the  first  in  which  Wren 
ventured  on  distinct  architectural  features,  consists  of  two 
storeys  of  arches  and  engaged  Corinthian  columns  over  a  low 
basement.  The  sides  and  back  have  a  rusticated  lower  storey  ; 
and  there  is  a  polygonal  apse.      It  was  opened  in  July  1669. 

In  1665,  the  year  of  the  Great  Plague,  Wren  made  an 
effort  to  improve  his  architectural  education  by  a  visit  to 
France,  where  great  works  were  at  the  time  in  progress  for 
Louis  XIV.  Previously,  his  friend  Dr.  Bathurst  consulted 
him  as  to  some  alterations  at  Trinity  College,  Oxford.  A 
letter  on  the  new  buildings,  in  Elmes's  Life,  is  remarkable  for 
the  modesty  with  which  Wren  expresses  his  opinions.  In  it 
he  anticipates  making  the  acquaintance  of  Bernini  and  Mansard 
within  a  fortnight.  By  a  curious  coincidence,  he  was  also  at 
work  at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  where  he  built  the' library 
which  forms  the  west  side  of  Nevile's  Court,  of  which  Dyer 
says  in  his  History,  "  Here  it  was  that  our  great  master  of 
Palladian  architecture,  Sir  Christopher  Wren,  surveyed  his 
own  work,  and  was  satisfied."  This  library  is  over  a  grand 
colonnade    of  Wren's    favourite   Roman    Doric.      Wright   and 


156  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

Jones  (i.  61)  justly  say  that  it  is  one  of  the  noblest  rooms  in 
Europe.  It  is  reached  by  a  staircase  of  black  marble,  wain- 
scoted with  cedar.  "  In  length,  this  room  measures  no  less 
than  1 90  feet,  by  a  breadth  of  40  feet ;  the  elevation  being 
estimated  at  38  feet.  At  the  southern  extremity,  it  is 
terminated  by  folding  doors,  which  open  to  a  balcony  from 
which  we  have  a  pleasant  view  of  the  College  walks  and  the 
river.  The  floor  is  paved  with  square  slabs  of  black  and 
white  marble,  placed  diagonally ;  the  doorways  at  the  two 
ends  of  the  room,  and  the  fronts  of  the  numerous  bookcases  on 
each  side,  are  adorned  with  a  profusion  of  the  most  exquisite 
carvings,  in  lime  wood,  which  are  some  of  the  choicest 
specimens  of  the  works  of  the  celebrated  Gibbons."  In  a 
letter,  sending  some  drawings  to  the  College  authorities.  Wren 
shows  his  attention  to  detail.  Of  the  ceiling  he  says:  "The 
cornices  divide  the  ceiling  into  three  rows  of  large  square 
panels,  answering  the  pilasters  which  will  prove  the  best  fret, 
because  in  a  long  room  it  gives  the  most  agreeable  perspective." 

This  fine  building  cost  about  ^20,000,  and  was  a  long  time 
in  hand,  not  being  absolutely  completed  till  the  end  of  the 
century.  Wren  gave  his  services  gratuitously  as  his  subscrip- 
tion towards  the  expenses.  The  attached  columns  of  the 
exterior  are  of  the  Ionic  order.  The  pilasters  of  the  interior 
are  Corinthian. 

Long  before  the  Library  of  Trinity  College  was  completed, 
or  even  seriously  taken  in  hand.  Wren  had  paid  his  long-promised 
visit  to  Paris.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  he  never  went  to 
Italy,  and  the  only  dome  he  can  ever  have  seen  before  he  built 
that  of  St.  Paul's,  must  have  been  that  placed  over  the  church 
of  the  Sorbonne  by  Le  Mercier.      It  was  commenced  in  1629, 


Wren  157 

the  architect,  who  was  dead  before  Wren's  visit  to  Paris,  having 
studied  in  Italy.  It  reminds  us  a  little  of  the  dome  of  the  great 
church  at  Florence,  beinsf  rather  octasfonal  than  round.  The 
first  fine  dome  in  Paris  was,  no  doubt,  that  of  the  Invalides,  by- 
Jules  Hardouin  Mansard:  but  it  was  not  built  till  after  1680. 
That  of  the  church  of  St.  Genevieve  was  only  raised  in  1 764, 
long  after  Wren  was  dead.  At  his  visit,  he  seems  to  have  been 
immensely  taken  by  a  design  of  Bernini  for  the  Louvre.  He 
says  of  it :  "  Bernini's  design  of  the  Louvre  I  would  have  given 
my  skin  for;  but  the  old  reserved  Italian  gave  me  but  a  few 
minutes'  view  ;  it  was  five  little  designs  on  paper,  for  which  he 
hath  received  as  many  thousand  pistoles.  "  Bernini's  design 
was,  however,  rejected  by  Louis  XIV.,  for  one  by  a  comparative 
amateur,  the  physician  Perrault ;  and  Bernini  went  back  to 
Rome,  where  he  had  already  made  the  long  semicircular 
colonnades  of  St.  Peter's. 

Wren  in  his  correspondence  says  nothing  of  a  dome,  nor 
does  he  seem  to  have  seen  Perrault's  design.  A  curious  reflec- 
tion here  forces  itself  upon  our  minds.  Did  Mansard  show  him 
any  sketch  of  his  future  dome  of  the  Invalides,  and  did  Perrault 
show  him  the  coupled  columns  with  which  he  was  about  to 
ornament  the  east  front  of  the  Louvre  ?  He  only  mentions 
Bernini ;  and  Fergusson  characterises  as  vulgar  and  inartistic 
the  design  which  Wren  appreciates  so  highly.  Of  other  archi- 
tects, he  gives  a  few  names,  but  says  nothing  about  their  works  ; 
and  Perrault  is  not  among  them. 

It  is  in  the  letter,  published  in  the  Parentalia,  in  which  he 
so  praises  Bernini,  that  he  makes  use  of  an  expression  about 
architecture  which  has  become  proverbial,  and  has  been  already 
quoted  in  this  book  :  "  Little  trinkets  are  in  great  vogue  ;  but 


1 58  Modern  Architectitre  in  England 

building  ought  certainly  to  have  the  attribute  of  eternal,  and 
therefore  the  only  thing  incapable  of  new  fashions." 

But  as  to  the  dome  and  the  coupled  columns,  we  know 
nothing.  He  used  the  dome,  and  used  it  better  at  St.  Paul's  ; 
and  there  too  he  used  the  coupled  Corinthian  columns  of 
Perrault.  But  of  all  his  work  with  coupled  columns,  the  finest, 
unquestionably,  is  at  Greenwich,  where  he  used  his  favourite 
Roman  Doric  with  such  marvellous  effect.  It  is  impossible  to 
believe,  therefore,  that  he  learned  much,  if  anything,  from 
Mansard  or  Perrault ;  and  St.  Paul's,  as  well  as  Greenwich,  must 
have  proceeded  from  a  mind  uninfluenced  by  what  he  had  seen 
in  Paris,  but  working  on  lines  parallel  with  those  of  the  great 
foreign  architects. 

It  will  not  do,  however,  to  assume  that  Wren  learned 
nothing  by  his  visit  to  the  Continent.  Of  course  he  would  have 
learned  more  had  he  been  able,  like  Inigo  Jones,  to  go  on  to 
Italy.  But,  besides  architects,  he  mentions  Van  Ostal  and 
Arnoldin  as  "plasterers  who  perform  the  admirable  works  at 
the  Louvre  "  ;  and  Perrot,  who  is  famous  for  basso-relievos  :  nor 
does  he  overlook  the  tapestry  works  in  the  Rue  Gobelins,  and 
"  Mons.  de  la  Ouintin^e,"  who  "has  most  excellent  skill  in 
agriculture,  planting,  and  gardening."  In  fact,  he  proposed, 
when  he  returned  home,  to  perfect  some  observations  on  the 
state  of  architecture,  arts,  and  manufactures  in  France  :  a  work 
he,  probably  owing  to  the  progress  of  affairs  at  home,  never 
had  time  to  accomplish. 

For  very  soon  after  he  returned,  an  event  occurred  which 
was  to  send  the  whole  current  of  his  thoughts  and  energies  into 
one  direction  for  the  rest  of  a  very  long. life  ;  namely,  the  Great 
P'ire  of  London.      He  had  come  back  early  in  the  spring,  and 


Wren  1 59 

was  busy  on  the  reparation  of  St.  Paul's.  He  had  been  appointed 
member  of  a  Royal  Commission  for  the  purpose,  together  with 
John  Evelyn,  the  Bishop  of  London,  and  the  Dean  of  St.  Paul's. 
The  steeple  was  pronounced  to  be  in  a  dangerous  condition  ;  and 
Wren,  strongly  supported  by  Evelyn,  proposed  to  rebuild  it 
upon  new  foundations  with  a  noble  cupola  :  "a  form  of  building 
previously  unknown  in  England."  But  before  anything  more 
could  be  done,  at  ten  o'clock  one  hot  Sunday  night  in  September 
the  Great  Fire  broke  out.  The  next  night  it  took-  hold  of  St. 
Paul's,  greatly  helped  by  the  wooden  scaffolds.  On  the  7th, 
five  days  after  the  outbreak  of  the  fire,  Evelyn  penetrated  to  the 
City,  and  found  Inigo's  beautiful  portico  rent  in  pieces,  and  almost 
the  whole  church,  except  the  extreme  east  end,  injured  more  or 
less  seriously. 

It  may  be  worth  while  here  once  more  to  combat  a  silly  idea 
which  has  gained  currency  during  the  prevalence  of  the  Gothic 
revival  ;  namely,  that  Inigo  Jones  in  his  portico,  and  Wren  in 
his  projected  dome,  were  doing  anything  to  spoil  old  St.  Paul's. 
Of  Inigo's  portico  I  have  said  perhaps  enough.  It  was  certainly 
not  in  any  way  incongruous,  as  shown  us  in  Hollar's  well-known 
print  in  Dugdale's  St.  Patits.  The  whole  nave,  especially  as 
he  recased  it,  belonged  more  or  less  closely  to  the  Romanesque 
style.  In  the  case  of  the  proposed  dome,  we  do  not  know  so 
much.  Wren  might  either  have  made  it  to  agree  with  the  east 
or  the  west  end,  with  the  Pointed  or  the  Romanesque  half  of  the 
church.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  pity  that  none  of  his  employments  led 
him  to  expand,  on  a  larger  and  more  important  scale,  his  beautiful 
Tom  Tower  at  Oxford.  A  dome  to  old  St.  Paul's  in  that  style 
would  have  been  in  many  respects  the  most  beautiful  building 
in   Eno-land  ;  and,  whether  contrasted  with  the  somewhat  stiff 


i6o  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

Perpendicular  of  the  east  end,  or  with  the  Corinthian  portico  at 
the  west  end,  would  have  added  to  the  beauty  and  interest  of 
every  view  of  the  Cathedral. 

There  is  no  occasion  to  dwell  on  the  terrors  or  destruction 
of  the  Great  Fire.  We  are  only  concerned  here  with  the  fact 
that  it  gave  Wren  the  opportunity  of  displaying  the  resources 
of  his  eenius.  After  a  long:  and  careful  consideration  of  his 
work,  after  comparing  it  with  that  of  his  predecessors  and  con- 
temporaries, after  throwing  into  the  comparison  the  best  designs 
made  since  his  time — I  have  come  to  a  very  simple  conclusion. 
Whatever  Wren  did  he  did  as  thoroughly  as  possible.  His 
genius,  it  has  been  said  a  hundred  times,  consisted  in  taking 
pains.  He  thought  out  each  problem  as  it  was  presented  to 
him.  His  minor  designs  have  their  proportions  as  carefully 
fixed  as  those  of  the  more  important.  Nothing  is  neglected 
that  will  enhance  the  effect.  Constantly  obliged  to  study  cheap- 
ness, he  made  up  for  it  by  spending  thought.  His  slightest 
design  was  mixed,  to  apply  John  Opie's  phrase,  "  with 
brains."  l>y  the  constant  use  of  this  ingredient,  cheapness  was 
ennobled. 

Among  the  poorest  buildings  in  materials  and  size,  we  find 
such  beautiful  "  bits  "  as  the  east  end  of  St.  Peter's  upon  Cornhill, 
or  the  exquisite  but  simple  little  tower  of  All  Hallows,  Bread 
Street,  lately  pulled  down.  The  destruction  of  many  of  his  City 
churches — a  subject  to  which  I  shall  have  to  revert  in  the  next 
chapter — has  shown  how  careful  he  was  that  each  tower  should 
have  its  place  in  relation  to  the  towers  nearest  to  it ;  and  what 
irremediable  damage  has  been  done,  by  the  removal  of  even  the 
smallest  and  poorest  of  them,  to  the  general  effect  of  the  whole 
number. 


o 

X 

X 
u 


o 


Wren  163 

We  had  better  examine  Wren's  domestic  and  public  buildings 
first,  and  his  City  churches  in  a  chapter  by  themselves.  His 
library  at  Cambridge  has  already  been  described  ;  but  in  addition 
he  built  palaces,  hospitals,  town  halls,  and  private  houses,  all 
characterised  by  the  same  qualities  of  design  and  execution. 
The  maximum  of  beauty,  the  minimum  of  cost,  combined  with 
the  utmost  stability — those  were  the  objects  at  which  he  chiefly 
aimed,  and  aimed  with  success. 

It  is  not  possible  to  range  Wren's  buildings  of  this  kind  in 
chronological  order  ;  because  most  of  them  were  undertakings  of 
such  magnitude  that  they  went  on,  as  I  might  say,  perennially 
during  a  long  life.  Such  were  Greenwich  Hospital,  for  which 
he  made  designs  in  or  before  1695,  but  which  was  not  completed 
till  after  his  death  ;  or  Hampton  Court  Palace,  where  he  first 
went  to  work  in  1689.  He  was  also  employed  at  Windsor 
Castle,  and  built  the  Town  Hall  of  the  royal  borough.  He 
designed,  in  the  plainest  style,  the  hospital  for  soldiers  at  Chelsea, 
the  building  of  which  went  on  from  1682  to  1691.  But  the 
finest  of  all  his  buildings  of  this  kind  is  neither  a  palace  nor  a 
college, — it  is  the  seamen's  hospital  at  Greenwich.  No  one  who 
has  an  eye  for  stately  scenic  effect  can  help  feeling  an  enthusiasm 
for  this  beautiful  work  of  art :  the  finest  of  the  kind  in  Europe. 
Marlborough  House  was  designed  in  1709.  It  has  had  storeys 
added,  which  make  its  proportions  no  longer  what  Wren  designed. 
Kensington  Palace,  as  we  now  see  it,  is  also  mainly  his  ;  mono- 
grams and  other  devices  of  his  period  being  on  the  east  and  north- 
east side  :  and  the  Orangery,  a  beautiful  but  neglected  building,  as 
well  as  an  alcove,  now  removed,  were  designed  by  him  for  Queen 
Anne.  The  Monument,  Fish  Street  Hill,  simple  as  it  looks,  cost 
Wren  a  great  deal  of  thought  and  care.      He  began  it  in  1671. 


164  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

He  bLiilt  smaller  palaces  for  Charles  II.  at  Newmarket  and  at 
Winchester.  The  latter  survives  as  a  barrack,  and  though  devoid 
of  ornament,  is  of  excellent  proportions,  which  are  enhanced  by 
contrast  with  those  of  some  later  buildings  adjacent.  It  is  curious 
how  few  private  houses  seem  to  be  his  ;  but  it  is  impossible, 
either  at  Salisbury  or  Chichester,  not  to  see  his  hand  in  some  of 
the  residences  connected  with  the  Cathedral.  At  Salisbury, 
there  is  a  beautiful  stone-fronted  house  on  the  north  side  of  the 
Close,  which  must  be  his.  It  bears  the  initials  C.  I\I.  and  the 
date  I  70 1.  Another  house,  on  the  west  side,  also  looks  like  his 
work.  It  is  raised  on  a  high  basement,  and  consists  only  of  one 
principal  storey,  in  red  brick  with  stone  corners.  At  St.  Albans, 
an  almshouse  near  St.  Peter's  Church  is  probably  his ;  the 
probability  being  increased  by  the  fact  that  Edward  Strong,  his 
master  mason,  is  buried  in  the  church.  It  is  the  epitaph  on 
Strong's  monument  that  gave  rise  to  the  saying  that  St.  Paul's 
was  built  by  one  architect,  under  one  bishop,  and  by  one  master 
mason.  The  inscription,  however,  only  says  that  Strong,  in 
company  with  Wren  and  Compton,  "shared  the  felicity  of  seeing 
both  the  beginning  and  finishing  of  that  stupendous  fabric." 
This  is  likely  enough,  as  his  elder  brother,  Thomas  Strong,  was 
the  first  master  mason  ;  and  Compton,  who  was  then  Bishop  of 
Oxford,  was  much  about  the  court,  where  he  was  tutor  to  the 
two  princesses,  afterwards  Queens  Mary  II.  and  Anne. 

It  would  be  easy  to  make  a  large  volume  about  Wren's 
domestic  architecture  ;  but  it  will  suffice  here  to  notice  a  few  only 
of  those  examples  which  may  be  singled  out  as  having  advanced 
taste,  and  added  to  the  charms  we  are  but  now  beoinninor  to 
recognise  in  the  "Queen  Anne  Style."  If  proportion  was  the 
ruling  motive  of  Inigo  Jones,  it  was  still  more  so  that  of  Wren. 


X 
u 


w 
w 


a 


a 


w 

O 

H 


Wren  167 

Many  of  his  buildings  were  absolutely  devoid  of  ornament,  and 
this,  too,  even  at  the  beginning  of  his  career.  Chelsea  Hospital 
was  begun  in  16S2.  Mr.  Beaver,  the  latest  historian  of  Chelsea 
(p.  277),  thus  speaks  of  it  :  "  With  very  simple  materials,  Wren 
has  contrived  to  give  us  a  building  perfect  in  proportion  and 
dignified  in  effect — one  on  which  the  eye  dwells  with  pleasure. 
Its  regularity  suggests  no  monotony ;  its  simplicity,  no  poverty 
of  design  :  it  bears  the  stamp  of  genius."  Another  writer,  Mr. 
L'Estrange,  in  his  Village  of  Palaces  (ii.  22),  says  of  it :  "  Few  can 
pass  before  this  noble  pile  of  buildings,  without  being  impressed 
with  the  size,  strength,  and  symmetry  of  Wren's  design."  For 
it  Wren  is  reported  to  have  received  ^1000  :  for  the  design  of 
Greenwich  Hospital,  he  refused  remuneration,  making  his 
work  a  contribution  to  the  charity,  just  as  at  Cambridge  he 
had  made  his  old  college  a  present  of  his  design  for  the  noble 
library. 

Greenwich  must  at  first  have  presented  a  very  interesting 
problem  to  his  mind.  The  conditions  were  as  follows  :  The 
old  palace  of  the  Tudors  has  been  pulled  down  ;  a  few  frag- 
ments, chiefly  of  outbuildings,  only  surviving.  A  new  palace, 
in  a  very  stately  style,  by  Webb,  Inigo  Jones's  pupil,  had  not 
very  long  been  built,  and  was  still  in  parts  incomplete,  though 
Charles  II.  is  said  to  have  stayed  for  a  time  in  the  eastern 
wing.  The  plan  was  oblong ;  a  narrow  court  in  the  middle 
being  entered  by  a  low  archway  with  a  wider  opening  to  the 
south.  The  western  side  was,  if  complete  at  all,  only  in  brick, 
and  was  finished  in  stone  by  George  III.  The  front  towards 
the  river  had  two  porticoes,  formed  of  four  engaged  Corinthian 
columns,  supported  at  the  corners  by  pilasters  of  the  order, 
with   a   noble   projecting   cornice,   very   much   in   Jones's   style. 


1 68  Modern  Architecture  in  England 


•b' 


Above  this  is  now  an  attic  storey,  which,  I  presume,  was  an 
addition  perhaps  by  Wren.  On  the  eastern  side  the  palace 
had  a  single  central  portico,  and  had  the  corners  accentuated 
by  pilasters.  The  gardens,  or  grounds,  on  this  side  were  cut 
close  by  a  broad  walk  or  road  which  led  from  the  bank  of  the 
river  to  a  house  some  way  off,  nearer  Greenwich  Park.  This 
house  had  originally  been  built  for  Henrietta  Maria,  by  Inigo 
Jones.  The  basement  remains,  and  possibly  the  semicircular 
stairway  to  the  terrace  may  be  of  his  time  :  otherwise,  there  are 
no  architectural  features  left. 

The  problem  before  Wren  was  how  to  work  in  the  palace  of 
Charles  II.  ;  to  make  use  of  as  much  of  the  vacant  space  as 
possible  between  it  and  the  Queen's  House  ;  to  arrange  so  as 
not  to  stop  the  road  from  the  river  ;  to  provide  for  a  possibility 
of  increase  of  accommodation  equal  to  at  least  three  times  that 
of  the  existing  palace  ;  and  to  arrange  the  new  buildings  with 
the  old  in  such  a  way  that  they  should  not,  so  to  speak,  hide 
each  other. 

All  these  objects  he  accomplished.  A  second  building,  on 
the  east  side  of  the  road,  was  erected  with  one  front  to  the 
river  and  another  to  westward,  looking  on  the  older  palace,  in 
exact,  or  almost  exact,  imitation  of  what  Webb  had  built  for 
Charles.  This  new  "  pavilion  "  was  called  after  Queen  Anne, 
in  whose  reign  it  was  completed.  As  it  was  built  on  a  line 
with  the  palace,  a  place  where  there  was  a  kind  of  bay  of  the 
river,  beside  which  stood  the  old  chapel  of  the  Tudor  palace, 
was  filled  up,  and  the  new  foundations  put  upon  it.  Behind 
these  two  buildings,  those  namely  of  King  Charles  and  Queen 
Anne,  were  placed  two  other  rectangular  blocks,  in  the  western- 
most of  which  was  the  great  dining-hall,  and  in  the  easternmost 


Wren  169 

tlie  chapel.  These  blocks  were  brought  forward,  almost  to  the 
Queen's  roadway,  and  were  edged  on  the  sides  facing  each 
other  with  a  magnificent  colonnade  of  coupled  pillars  of  Wren's 
favourite  Tuscan  Doric.  This  colonnade  shows  six  pairs  of 
its  double  columns  on  either  side,  and  a  long  vista  of  150  pairs 
towards  the  gates  of  the  Queen's  House  and  the  Park.  The 
effect  is  magical,  and  is  greatly  increased  in  symmetry  and 
beauty  by  the  domes  which  stand  on  either  hand  above  the 
entrances  of  the  chapel  and  the  hall.  If  Wren  had  never 
built  another  dome,  this  pair,  though  not  large,  should  have 
immortalised  him.  Coupled  Composite  columns  are  employed  ; 
and  there  are  "  four  projecting  groups  of  columns  at  the  quoins. 
The  attic  above  is  a  circle  without  breaks,  covered  with  the 
dome  and  terminated  with  the  turret."  This  is  from  the 
official  account  published  in  1789;  but  no  words  can  give  an 
adequate  idea  of  the  effect. 

Unfortunately,  the  works  were  never  finished  by  Wren. 
On  the  west  side  of  King  William's  building,  a  very  different 
hand  was  employed.  Vanbrugh  is  responsible  for  the  heavy 
brick  with  coarsely-moulded  stone  dressings  which  is  such  an 
eyesore  in  one  of  the  most  prominent  views  of  the  Hospital. 
In  the  reign  of  George  III.  some  similar  work  in  the  building 
of  King  Charles  was  cased  in  stone,  but  in  a  poor  and  heavy 
style  ;  and  altogether,  this  western  front,  the  first  to  greet  the 
traveller  from  London  by  land,  is  the  least  beautiful  part  of  the 
whole  composition.  Vanbrugh's  work,  of  which  there  is  more 
in  the  neighbourhood,  should  be  a  warning  to  those  modern 
architects  who  seem  so  anxious  to  imitate  his  anomalous  style. 
The  dates  of  the  different  parts  of  Wren's  work  are  worth 
noting.  The  hall  and  chapel  were  founded  in  1696,  and 
z 


1 70  Modern  ArcJiitecture  in  England 

opened    in    1705.       Queen    Anne's    building   was    founded    in 
1698,  but  was  not  finished  till  1728. 

Not  far  from  Greenwich  is  another  very  dignified  front  by 
Wren:  Morden  College,  Charlton.      It  may  be  compared  with 
the  almshouse  at  St.  Albans  ;  but  is  on  a  larger  scale,  and  there 
are    more   architectural    features    in    the    courtyard    with    its 
"  piazzas."     Another  small  work  in  this  grand  but  simple  style 
is  the  gateway  of  the  Middle  Temple  :  a  building  little  noticed 
till  lately,  but  now  forced   into  prominence  by  the  contrast  it 
presents,   in  its  simplicity,  proportion,  and  good  taste,    to   the 
newer  buildings  which  surround  it.     Temple  Bar  was  a  beauti- 
ful stone  archway  in  Wren's  best  manner.      It  was  pulled  down 
in   1878  for  reasons  which  have  not  transpired.     Some  said  it 
obstructed  the  traffic,  which  cannot  have  been   the  case.      It 
would  have  been  easy  to  take  the  roadway  past  it  on  one  side, 
as  has  been  done  with  old  gateways  in  Paris.     The  north  side 
was  open  at  the  time.     That  it  obstructed  the  traffic  cannot, 
however,  have  been  the  reason  for  its  removal ;  as  a  monument, 
hideous  in  design  and  nearly  as  obstructive,  has  replaced  it  in 
the  middle  of  the   street.     Temple    Bar    has    been   made  the 
entrance  gate  of  Theobalds  Park  in   Hertfordshire,  and  looks 
extremely   well    there,  surrounded    by  old    oak    trees ;    but  its 
loss  as  a  dignified,  beautiful,  and  historically  interesting  entrance 
to  the  City  is  irreparable. 

Wren  spent  a  great  deal  of  thought  on  the  Monument.  He 
first  intended  it  to  be  an  unfluted  Tuscan  Doric  column,  with 
flames  of  gilt  bronze  issuing  from  it  at  intervals,  and  on  the  top 
an  urn,  flaming,  with  a  phoenix  rising  from  it.  "  On  second 
thoughts,"  he  says,  "  I  rejected  it ;  because  it  will  be  costly,  not 
easily  understood  at  that  height,   and  worse  understood   at   a 


i 


Wren  1 7 1 

distance,  and  lastly,  dangerous,  by  reason  of  the  sail  the  spread 
wings  will  carry  in  the  wind."  A  good  engraving  of  this  design 
was  made  by  Hulsbergh,  who  also  issued  a  large  print,  from  a 
drawing  by  Hawksmoor,  of  the  final  design.  This  represents 
a  fluted  column  of  the  same  order,  with  a  large  "  ^^^  and  dart " 
moulding  to  crown  the  capital,  and  a  statue  of  Charles  II.  on 
the  summit.  An  urn  was  substituted  for  the  statue,  "contra 
architecti  intentionem,"  says  Hawksmoor.  There  are  enlarged 
views  of  the  plinth  and  other  details  in  the  print,  which  show 
with  what  care  and  attention  each  part  was  considered  and 
thought  out.     The  pillar  was  completed  in  1677. 

Wren  began  to  work  at  Hampton  Court  in  1689,  ^^^  <^on- 
tinued  to  superintend  the  alterations  and  improvements  until 
1 7 18,  when,  by  means  of  an  unworthy  intrigue,  he  was  dis- 
missed from  his  office  of  surveyor.  A  very  interesting  design 
of  his  is  printed  by  Mr.  Ernest  Law  in  the  third  volume  of  his 
History  of  Hampton  Court.  The  original  is  still  in  the  Office 
of  Works.  It  seems  to  have  been  made  in  1699.  The  avenue 
of  horse-chestnuts  in  Bushey  Park  was  to  be  made  a  grand 
approach  to  the  palace  on  the  north.  Two  wings,  300  feet  long, 
were  to  be  built  from  the  great  hall,  with  colonnades  ;  and  the 
intervening  offices  were  to  be  cleared  away.  The  result  would 
have  been  to  make  another  grand  scenic  effect  like  that  at 
Greenwich,  and  to  give  William  III.  a  palace  superior  to  any 
other  in  Europe.  But  the  King  died  ;  and  though  Queen  Anne 
was  much  at  Hampton  Court,  nothing  was  done  to  complete 
what  Wren  had  begun.  As  we  see  it  now,  the  mixture  of 
Gothic  and  Palladian  is  so  charming  that  we  cannot  wish  it 
otherwise  ;  but,  no  doubt,  from  an  architectural  point  of  view, 
its  incompleteness  is  to  be  regretted.     The  east  front,  as  finished 


172  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

by  Wren,  is  very  fine,  as  is  the  Fountain  Court  ;  while  the  Ionic 
colonnade  in  the  Clock  Court  adds  greatly,  by  contrast,  to 
the  picturesque  effect  of  this  part  of  the  palace.  The  carvings 
everywhere  are  extremely  good,  and  are  worthy  of  separate  and 
careful  examination.  The  architect's  initials  occur  on  the  west 
side  of  the  cloisters  which  surround  the  Fountain  Court ;  and  it 
is  conjectured  that  they  mark  the  lodgings  he  occupied  while 
he  was  engaged  here.  Colley  Cibber  seems  to  have  been  the 
principal  sculptor  employed  ;  but  there  is  occasional  mention  of 
"a  Frenchman."  The  east  front  is  of  red  brick,  with  stone 
dressings  ;  and,  except  for  four  Corinthian  columns  and  a  pedi- 
ment in  the  centre,  is  almost  devoid  of  ornament. 

Wren  built  much  in  a  very  plain  style  for  William  III.  at 
Kensington.  Work  was  begun  as  early  as  1689,  but  was 
interrupted  by  a  fire  in  1691.  In  1696,  Evelyn  records  a  visit 
to  it,  and  specially  mentions  a  gallery  and  "a  pretty  private 
library."  A  good  deal  was  added  to  the  palace  by  Kent  for 
George  II.,  so  that,  as  also  at  Hampton  Court,  it  is  not  always 
easy  to  distinguish  Wren's  work  ;  but  we  can  be  sure  of  such 
parts  as  bear  the  initials  of  William  and  Mary,  or  of  Queen 
Anne.  As  originally  laid  out,  there  was  a  formal  garden  south 
and  east  of  the  house.  North  of  it  was  a  lawn  on  which  some 
cedars  grew ;  and  apparently  there  was  a  bronze  bust  or 
statue  among  them.  On  this  side  also  was  a  long  walk  or 
avenue  leading  to  the  Bayswater  Road.  Its  southern  end  is 
marked,  near  the  Orangery,  by  two  fine  brick  piers,  with  carved 
stone  ornaments.  Here,  it  is  said,  William  used  to  walk  alone 
when  in  a  moody  humour.  Looking  southward  is  the  Orangery; 
and  the  principal  walks  of  the  llower  garden  converged  on  the 
Alcove  :  a  beautifiil  feature,  which  stood  facing  the  Orangery  at 


PVre)i 


173 


some  distance,  its  back  being  against  the  brick  wall,  which  at  that 
time  shut  off  the  Kensington  high-road.  In  this  Alcove,  it  is 
said  that  the  French  refugees  celebrated  a  mass  in  fine  summer 
weather.  When  the  wall  was  taken  down,  the  Alcove  was 
senselessly  removed,  and  placed  at  the  other  end  of  the  gardens. 
It  was  designed  to  face  northward,  and  to  form  the  end  of  a 
vista.  It  is  now  placed  facing  south,  about  half-way  up  a  slope, 
where  there  is  no  vista,  and  where  it  only  serves  to  make  more 
hideous  the  buildings  about  the  head  of  the  Serpentine  close  by. 
The  Alcove  bears  the  initials  of  Queen  Anne. 

The  Orangery  is  left  in  a  melancholy  state  of  neglect.  Here 
Wren  did  his  best  to  decorate  a  garden  with  an  ornamental 
building  ;  and  we  see  from  it  what  he  could  accomplish  in  a  style 
more  playful  than  that  he  usually  employed.  The  columns  of 
the  central  bay  are  of  red  brick,  of  his  favourite  Doric  order ; 
and  there  is  very  litde  ornament  anywhere.  The  result,  though 
simple,  is  eminently  satisfactory.  It  is  sad  to  see  this  beautiful 
building  used  as  a  kind  of  tool-shed  for  the  gardeners,  a  place 
for  mixing  manures,  with  a  series  of  squalid  hothouses  obscuring 
the  best  view  of  its  front. 


VII 
WREN'S   CHURCHES 


VII 
WREN'S   CHURCHES 

Obnoxious  to  bishops — Many  destroyed — Method  of  procedure — Case  of  St.  Antholin's 
— A  monstrous  falsehood  —  Classification — St.  Paul's  —  Court  influence  —  A 
Protestant  design — ."Vn  artificial  design — Decorations — Parish  churches — Two 
principal  patterns — Domed  churches — Gothic  churches. 

Future  historians  of  the  architectural  movements  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  will  be  sufficiently  puzzled  to  account  for  the  rise 
of  the  anomalous  or  eclectic  style  to  occupy  all  their  faculties. 
But  if  any  time  remains,  they  may  inquire  into  another  and  still 
more  surprising  phenomenon.  It  is  well  known  among  foreign 
nations,  though  apparently  not  among  ourselves,  that  in  Wren's 
City  churches  England  possesses,  or,  to  be  accurate,  possessed, 
a  treasure  only  comparable  to  the  works  of  art  at  Florence  and 
Rome :  a  treasure  such  as  no  other  city  could  show.  Yet, 
incredible  as  it  may  seem,  those  in  authority  have  for  more 
than  thirty  years  past  been  making  the  most  strenuous  efforts 
to  destroy  these  treasures.  It  is  difficult,  or  rather,  impossible, 
to  find  the  reason  for  this  course  of  action.  Some  years  ago,  I 
endeavoured  to  account  for  it  by  the  action  of  superstition  ;  but 
I  am  assured  now  that  I  was  mistaken.  I  can,  of  course, 
understand  that  the  architects  who  are  transforming  the  City 
would  be  glad  to  remove  such  prominent  witnesses  of  their  own 
incompetence.      But  the  churches  have  not  been  pulled  down 

2   A 


1 78  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

at  the  instance  of  architects  :  they  have  been  removed  at 
the  instance  of  successive  bishops  and  other  ecclesiastical 
persons.  This  seems  to  me  the  most  extraordinary  part  of 
the  story,  though,  considering  the  character  and  position  of 
these  personages,  there  is  another  fact  almost  as  extraordinary. 
The  churches  have  been  condemned  with  the  consent  of  the 
parishioners  ;  and  this  consent  has  been  obtained  by  means  ot 
deception.  I  do  not  mean  to  impute  this  deception  to  the 
ecclesiastical  dignitaries  just  mentioned  ;  but  they  have  profited 
by  it.  The  method  of  procedure  has  been  briefly  this.  When 
a  church  was  to  be  destroyed,  the  parishioners  were  informed 
that  it  was  not  designed  by  Wren  at  all ;  or,  failing  that  asser- 
tion, they  were  told  that  the  church  Wren  had  designed  for 
that  parish  was  pulled  down  long  ago,  and  the  present  church 
built  by  somebody  else  in  imitation  of  it.  This  course  was 
repeatedly  pursued.  The  church  was  subjected  to  Jedburgh 
law.  It  was  condemned  and  pulled  down  first,  and  judged 
and  acquitted  afterwards.  The  whole  story  was  told  lately 
of  one  of  the  most  precious  of  these  churches  in  a  letter  in 
the  Times  (21st  April  1892),  written  by  the  churchwarden  who 
had  been  made  the  cat's-paw  of  the  religious  functionaries  I 
have  mentioned.  He  now  bitterly  laments  the  fraudulent  part 
he  was  deceived  into  playing.  People  have  so  little  archi- 
tectural taste,  and  so  few  of  the  people  of  a  parish  in  the  City 
knew  whether  their  church  had  an  artistic  value  or  not,  that 
these  tactics  have  been  marvellously  successful. 

It  is  therefore  necessary  once  more,  and  as  many  times 
more  as  possible,  to  reiterate  the  fact  that  all  Wren's  churches 
in  the  City  were  designed  with  a  purpose,  and  that  the  destruction 
of  one  church  is  a  partial  destruction   of  all   the   rest.     This 


Wrens  Churches  179 

is  a  consideration  which  cannot  be  too  strongly  insisted  upon. 
As  a  rule,  the  relation  between  the  different  churches  was 
preserved  by  the  spires  or  towers.  If  a  church  is  removed, 
it  may  be  sufficient  to  leave  the  tower.  An  inquiry  ought 
to  have  been  made  in  every  case  to  this  effect ;  but,  so  far  as 
the  general  public  is  informed,  no  such  question  has  ever  been 
raised.  Church  and  church  tower  have  both  been  destroyed 
in  nearly  all  cases ;  but  an  agitation,  got  uja  in  time,  was 
successful  in  .saving  the  tower  of  St.  Mary  Somerset,  the 
removal  of  which  would  have  had  an  even  more  disastrous 
effect  on  the  view  of  London  from  the  Thames  than  the 
destruction  of  St.  Antholin.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the 
decree  of  condemnation  is  still  in  force,  and  as  I  write,  for 
aught  I  know  to  the  contrary,  may  be  in  process  of  execution. 
The  right  reverend  and  reverend  society  for  the  suppression 
of  Wren's  churches  goes  to  work  with  exceeding  subtlety  ;  and 
it  is  certain,  that  if  it  put  as  much  skill  and  craft  into  motion 
to  obtain  the  money  by  other  and  less  nefarious  means,  the 
task  would  be  comparatively  easy,  and  the  members  would 
be  saved  the  necessity  of  absolving  their  agents  from  the  sin 
of  mendacity.  I  do  not  believe  one  more  of  Wren's  churches 
would  be  destroyed  if  the  Bishop  of  London  could  be  made 
to  understand  that  the  consent  of  the  parishioners  can  only 
be  obtained  by  simple  lying. 

One  fact  is  worth  a  great  many  arguments.  I  will  offer  the 
reader  two  facts.  Wren  built  a  very  curious  and  interesting 
church,  called  St.  Mary  Aldermary,  in  a  modification  of  the 
Gothic  style.  The  chief  feature  of  this  church  is  the  beautifully 
proportioned  tower,  in  which  some  people  see  an  imitation  of 
the  tower  of  Magdalen  College  at  Oxford.      By  way  of  contrast, 


i8o  Modern  Architecture  in  Ein^/ai/d 


•b" 


Wren  built  over  against  St.  Mary's  another  tower  :  that  of  St. 
Antholin,  Watling  Street.  The  tower  of  St.  Mary's  is  135 
feet  high,  having  corner  pinnacles.  The  spire  was  designed  to 
be  a  little  taller,  as  suitable  to  its  form  ;  and  it  rose  to  154  feet. 
It  was  very  much  like  a  Gothic  spire,  and  was  built  of  stone  ;  in 
this  respect  differing  from  all  but  one  other  of  Wren's  spires. 
But  though  so  Gothic  in  its  general  form,  it  was  strictly  Palladian 
in  details.  The  harmony,  or  contrast  of  the  two  steeples — for 
they  stood  very  close  together,  and  you  could  hardly  look  at 
one  without  seeing  the  other — produced  on  the  mind  of  any  one 
of  artistic  taste  a  feeling  of  intense  pleasure  :  a  distinct  thrill,  like 
that  produced  by  beautiful  music.  When  the  new  street  was 
made,  these  two  towers  stood  on  either  side  of  it,  and  opposite 
to  each  other.  In  those  days,  I  was  obliged  to  spend  six  months 
of  every  year  abroad  ;  and  I  well  remember  making  an  exertion 
always  on  my  return  to  go  and  have  a  look  at  the  pair,  some- 
times endeavouring  to  group  St.  Mary-le-Bow  or  some  other 
tower  with  them  in  one  view.  Judge  my  distress,  in  1877,  on 
returning  from  a  winter  in  Egypt,  to  find  St.  Antholin's  gone, 
and  its  place  occupied  by  some  shops,  rather  conspicuous  for 
the  poverty  of  their  architectural  features.  The  miserable  story 
leaked  out  by  degrees.  When  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  first 
proposed  to  destroy  St.  Antholin's,  a  cry  of  horror  and  indigna- 
tion went  up.  But  they  were  not  to  be  balked  of  their  prey. 
They  discovered,  or  allowed  some  one  to  discover  for  them, 
that  St.  Antholin's  was  not  designed  by  Wren, — that,  in  fact,  it 
had  only  been  built  a  few  years, — and  that  it  was  by  no  means 
worth  the  fuss  being  made  about  it.  I  do  not  say  that  the 
authorities  believed  this  tale  themselves  :  they  are  gentlemen  of 
education  and  must  have  known  better.      But  they  did  not  on 


u. 

O 

'SI 

X 

a 
p 


o 

Z 

td 
W 
Si 
O 


Wreiis  ChiircJies  i8, 


o 


that  account  contradict  the  story.  By  much  canvassing  and  many 
reiterations,  abaremajority  of  the  parishioners  was  obtained.  Even 
then,  a  number  pleaded  for  the  reprieve  of  the  spire  ;  and  it  was 
spared  for  a  few  months,  but,  to  use  the  words  of  Mr.  Andrew 
Taylor  (The  Toiuers  and  Steeples  of  Sir  Christopher  Wren,  p. 
38),  "  the  increased  price  which  was  thereby  obtainable  for  the 
site  finally  outweighing  all  less  mercenary  considerations,  it 
shared  the  fate  of  the  church  ;  and  the  place  that  once  knew  it 
knows  it  no  more  for  ever."  I  was  lately  assured  by  an  alder- 
man, at  that  time  Lord  Mayor,  that  the  whole  bench  of  alder- 
men protested  in  vain  against  the  removal  of  this  tower.  Then 
came  the  sequel  to  the  story.  The  gentleman  who  had  been 
made  a  cat's-paw  found  out  that  he  was  wholly  deceived.  A 
few  courses  of  the  spire  had  on  one  occasion  been  taken 
down  in  order  to  remove  a  faulty  piece  of  stone,  and  had  been 
scrupulously  replaced.  It  was  upon  this  repair  that  the  whole 
monstrous  lie  told  to  the  parishioners  rested.  I  repeat,  I  cannot 
acquit  the  members  of  the  Episcopal  committee  of  blame. 

During  the  present  year,  nevertheless,  the  same  tactics  were 
tried  in  order  to  destroy  Wren's  only  other  stone  spire, — for  of 
course  the  steeples  of  St.  Mary-le-Bow  or  St.  Bride's  are  not 
exactly  spires, — but  the  parishioners  of  St.  Antholin,  still  smart- 
ing under  the  misfortune  of  1876,  told  the  whole  story  as  I  have 
endeavoured  to  narrate  it  above,  with  the  result  that  for  the  time 
being  St.  Dunstan  in  the  East  is  saved.  The  admiration  of  the 
citizens,  and  of  all  people  of  any  taste,  had  not  been  able  to  save 
St.  Antholin. 

It  had  been  built  in  1682  ;  and  the  cost  of  church  and  spire 
was  ^5700.  St.  Mary  Aldermary  was  built  at  the  same  time, 
and  finished  only  a  few  months  sooner  ;  so  that  there  can  be  no 


184  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

doubt  of  Wren's  intention  of  making  one  composition  of 
the  two. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  go  through  all  Wren's  City  churches. 
The  following  have  been  pulled  down  by  the  bishop  and  his 
assessors  within  the  past  few  years  :  St.  Antholin  ;  All  Hallows, 
Thames  Street  ;  All  Hallows,  Bread  Street ;  St.  Mildred  ;  St. 
Michael,  Oueenhithe  ;  St.  Dionis  ;  St.  Benet,  Gracechurch 
Street ;  and  St.  Olave,  Jewry.  Besides  these,  St.  Christopher 
by  the  Bank;  St.  Michael,  Crooked  Lane;  and  St.  Benet  Fink, 
were  previously  pulled  down,  but  are  not  so  much  to  be  lamented. 
In  all,  ten  of  Wren's  churches  have  been  destroyed  under  the 
"  Union  of  Benefices  Act "  of  i860 ;  and  Mr.  Taylor  says  that 
"under  a  scheme  drawn  up  by  the  Fellows  of  Sion  College  in 
1876,  thirty-one  more  City  churches  were  marked  for  destruction. 
This,  however,  was  too  much  even  for  the  apathy  of  the  British 
public  ;  and  steps  were  taken  to  resist  such  a  scheme,  which  were 
so  far  successful  that  the  matter  has  been  allowed  to  drop  for 
the  present :  but  it  may  be  resuscitated  at  any  time  ;  and  it  is 
imperatively  necessary,  therefore,  that  a  greater  public  interest 
be  awakened  in  the  churches,  that  we  be  not  implicated  in 
deeds  for  which  posterity  will  not  hold  us  blameless." 

Various  attempts  have  been  made  to  classify  Wren's  churches. 
They  generally  end  in  leaving  the  classification  like  that  of  Greek 
verbs.  One  is  regular  and  all  the  rest  are  e.xceptional.  W^e 
cannot  class  St.  Paul's  with  any  of  the  others,  though  the  interior 
of  St.  Stephen,  Wallbrook,  may  be  compared  with  parts  of  it. 
There  are  two  or  three  fine  churches  which  go  together:  St. 
Lawrence  Jewry  ;  St.  James,  Piccadilly ;  St.  Bride,  Fleet 
Street ;  and  St.  Mary-le-Bow — in  all  of  which  Wren  showed  his 
marvellous  skill  in  covering  a  wide  space  where  all  can  see  and 


Th.  W...t  I'ruspect  of  ST.  PAUL'S  CHURCH,  begun  Anno  ,672  and  Mni.hcd  .;.o.      F.on,  an  old  print. 


2   B 


IVrens  Churches  '  187 

hear.  Again,  in  some  of  the  smaller  churches,  where  cheapness 
had  to  be  considered  before  all  else,  he  contrived  to  bestow  some 
feature,  within  or  without,  which  carried  off  the  plainness  he  could 
not  otherwise  avoid.  Mr.  Taylor  classifies  them  by  the  towers 
and  spires  alone.  Some  have  stone  steeples,  like  St.  Mary-le- 
Bow,  Christ  Church,  St.  Bride,  and  St.  Vedast.  Some  have  lead 
spires  and  lanterns,  of  which  type  St.  Magnus  and  St.  Lawrence 
are  good  examples.  A  third  kind  have  square  towers,  like  St. 
Andrew  by  the  Wardrobe,  or  St.  George,  Botolph  Lane.  Finally, 
we  have  the  Gothic  churches  or  church  towers:  a  very  interesting 
class,  which  comprises  St.  Mary  Aldermary  ;  St.  Dunstan  in  the 
East;  St.  Michael,  Cornhill  ;  and  St.  Alban,  Wood  Street. 

Of  St.  Paul's,  a  very  short  notice  must  suffice,  and  that  chiefly 
by  way  rather  of  praise  than  of  criticism.  But  it  is  well  to  point 
out  the  conditions  under  which  St.  Paul's  was  designed.  Let 
us  ask  ourselves  what  were  the  objects  of  church-builders  in  the 
second  half  of  the  seventeenth  century.  The  question  is  wholly 
one  of  church  doctrine.  The  school  of  Laud  had  passed  away, 
and  its  leader  had  been  one  of  the  victims  of  the  Great  Rebellion. 
Of  his  school,  we  have  a  most  interesting  example  in  St. 
Katharine  Cree,  a  church  probably  built  by  Inigo  Jones,  under 
Laud's  personal  superintendence  ;  that  is,  it  was  designed  by  a 
Roman  Catholic  for  a  bishop  whose  leading  idea  was  union  with 
Rome.  I  am  expressing  no  opinion  on  the  religious  questions 
involved,  but  only  touching  on  them  as  they  affected  architecture. 
In  St.  Katharine  Cree,  accordingly,  we  see  a  building  designed 
for  the  celebration  of  Mass.  The  designer's  object  was,  briefly, 
to  construct  a  church  in  which  every  worshipper  could  see  the 
elevation  of  the  Host.  But  when  the  Revolution,  which  had 
been  fostered  and  promoted  as  much  by  the  tendency  of  Laud  just 


1 88  Modem  Architecture  in  Enghmd 

mentioned  as  by  any  one  thing  besides, — when  the  Revolution 
had  swept  over  the  land,  views  and  opinions  on  these  subjects 
were  wholly  changed.      During  the  Commonwealth,  in  the  City 
of  London  at  least,  every  parish  had  chosen  to  itself  a  lecturer 
or  preaching  clergyman.      Under  the  old  rule,  before  the  Refor- 
mation, and  long  afterwards,  preaching  was  no  part  of  the  duty 
of  the  parochial  clergy.     They  went  on  celebrating  Mass  until 
that  was  forbidden.     Queen  Elizabeth  licensed  a  few  preachers 
from  time  to  time  ;  and  they  chiefly  held  forth  at  such  a  jilace  as 
.St.  Paul's  Cross,  and  were  strictly  amenable  to  the  authorities. 
In    this  respect,  there  was  more   liberty  under    James  I.  and 
Charles  I.  ;  and  then,  as  I  have  said,  the  people  grew  so  fond 
of  sermons,  that  they  elected  preachers.      During  the  reign  of 
Cromwell,  many  parish  clergymen  fled  and  left  their  people  to 
the  lecturers,  who  subsequently  showed  well  by  contrast  during 
the  prevalence  of  the  Great  Plague.      It  is  probable  that,  if  we 
had  Mr.  Besant's  powers,  and  could  go  back  and  interview  a 
citizen  of  London  about  the  beginning  of  1666,  and  could  ask 
him  "What  is  a  church  for.^"  he  would  reply,   "  It  is  a  place 
where  we  can  hear  sermons."     So  when,  later  in  the  same  year, 
the  Fire  came  and  burnt  nearly  all  the  old  churches, — churches, 
we  must  remember,  built  for  Mass,  not  for  sermons, — the  citizens, 
in  rebuilding  them,  thought  only  of  how  they  could  hear  and  how 
they  could  see,  not  the  elevation  of  the  Host,  but  the  face  of  the 
preacher.     Wren  says  himself  in  Parcntalia  that  his  object  in 
designing  St.  James's,  Piccadilly,  was  to  make  it  "so  capacious, 
with  pews  and  galleries,  as  to  hold  above  2000  persons,  and 
all  to  hear  distinctly  and  see  the  preacher."     This,  then,  was  the 
leading  idea,  the  motive  of  the  church-designer  of  the  latter  half 
of  the  seventeenth  century. 


'iyr-'^'^ 


2; 
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a! 

<: 

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H 

< 
o 

<! 

pit 


«-«il]ji;rj; 


PVrens  C/i/irches  191 

There  was,  however,  another  influence  at  work,  and  that  too 
in  circles  where  it  could  not  be  ignored.     The  king's  brother 
and  next  heir,  the  Duke  of  York,  was  a  fervent  Roman  Catholic. 
He  hoped,  if  ever  he  succeeded  to  the  throne,  that  he  should 
be  able  to  lead  England  back  to  the  true  faith,  and  to  see  the 
Mass  celebrated  everywhere.     The  ecclesiastical  question  was 
thus  complicated.     James  could  not  impose  his  views  on   the 
parishioners  of  Piccadilly,  or  of  any  part  of  the  City  ;  but  St. 
Paul's  was  a  building  of  public  importance  :  it  was  the  cathedral 
of  the  greatest  diocese  in   England  ;  and  it  was  by  the  kino-'s 
liberality,  but  much  more  by  the  exercise  of  his  prerogative,  that 
Wren  expected  to  obtain  the  money  necessary  for  his  gigantic 
undertaking.     This  being  the  case,  the  voice  of  the  court  pre- 
vailed easily  over  the  voice  of  the  city.     The  citizens  knew  what 
they  wanted  ;  but  they  were  too  much  impoverished  by  the  Fire 
to  be  able  to  give  handsomely  to  St.  Paul's.      Most  of  them,  too, 
had  their  own  churches  to  think  of  and  to  rebuild.     There  are 
a  few  cases  in  which  a  citizen  gave  ^^looo  to  his  own  parish 
church  and  the   same  to  St.   Paul's  ;  but  whereas  ;^iooo  was 
nearly  enough  to  build  a  parish  church,  it  was  but  a  mite  in  the 
subscription  list  of  the  Cathedral.      But  the  citizens  knew  what 
they  wanted  ;  and  Wren  was  well  acquainted  with  their  wishes. 
They    desired    a   vast    preaching-house;   and    Wren    designed 
them  such  a  glorified  preaching- house  as  the  world  has  never 
seen.     It  may  be  worth  while  to  attempt  a  short  description 
of  it. 

The  principal  feature  was  a  dome.  Round  this  dome  were 
aisles,  or  an  aisle,  of  great  width  ;  the  only  interruption  to  the 
sight  being  the  piers  supporting  the  dome,  which  were  divided 
and  reduced  in  thickness  to  the  utmost,  so  as  to  leave  the  whole 


192 


Modern  Architecture  in  England 


vast  space  under  ihe  dome  and  aisles  as  free  as  possible.     Miss 
Phillimore  {Sir  Christopher  Wren,  p.  197)  does  not  seem  quite 
to  understand   the  object  of  the    design.       She  says:     "The 
ground-plan  was  that  of  a  Greek  cross;  the  choir  was  circular;  it 
had  a  very  short  nave,  and  no  aisles."     It  is  not  easy  to  under- 
stand what  is  meant  by  a  circular  choir.     At  the  extreme  east 
end,  Wren  made  a  kind  of  semicircular  recess:  a  "  Kibleh,''  to 
borrow  a  word  from  Saracenic  architecture.     The  eastern  and 
western  limbs  were  of  the  same  length  precisely  as  the  northern 
and  southern.     We  may  talk  of  them  as  choir  and  nave,  and  as 
transepts  ;  but  the  architect's  one  object  was  evidently  to  provide 
the  largest  possible  open  space,  call  its  parts  what  you  please, 
and  to  make  no  provision  whatever  for  Roman  Catholic  worship, 
for  Masses  in  side  chapels,  for  a  high  altar,  or,  in  short,  for  any- 
thing but  a  place  for  all  "  to  hear  the  service,  and  both  to  hear 
distinctly  and  see  the  preacher."     In  order  to  add  to  the  room, 
and  also,  no  doubt,  in  order  to  obviate  any  monotony  that  might 
arise  from  the  grouping  of  the  aisles  round  a  circular  centre,  he 
made  the  exterior  walls  of  his  aisles  convex.      Here  Miss  Philli- 
more's    remarks  are   excellent,   and   I   venture  to  quote  them  : 
"  The  outside,  with  the  two  hollow  curves  joining  the  transepts 
with  the  nave,  and  the  two  different-sized  domes,  would  probably 
have  been  disappointing  ;  but  one  speaks  with  diffidence,  for  this 
was  Sir  Christopher's  favourite  design — the  St.  Paul's  which  he 
told  his  son  he  would  most  cheerfully  have  accomplished."     It 
is  possible,   however,   that  the  hollow  curves  were  intended  to 
let  the  dome  be  better  seen. 

The  second  dome  mentioned  here  was  one  of  the  most  curious 
features  of  the  design,  and  like  the  "  hollow  curves  "  tries  our 
faith.      At  the  west  end  of  the  church,  instead  of  the  two  noble 


Wrens  Churches  i93 

campanile  towers,  there  was  to  be  a  portico  very  like  that  of 
Inigo  Jones,  destroyed  in  the  Great  Fire.  There  was  only  one 
range  of  columns,  not  two  as  at  present.  Through  the  portico 
we  were  to  enter  a  vestibule.  This  vestibule  was  to  consist  of  a 
narrow,  windowless  bay,  a  wider  one,  circular  and  domed,  and  a 
third  like  the  first,  and  then  came  what  Miss  Phillimore  calls  the 
nave  ;  for  this  vestibule  was  no  part  of  the  church,  but  was  suit- 
able as  a  meeting-place  for  the  chapter  and  such  purposes.  One 
thing  is  conspicuous  by  its  absence.  There  is  not  a  vestige  of  a 
chapel  :  not  even  such  open  chapels  as  those  north  and  south  of 
the  entrance  to  the  nave  as  it  now  is.  In  short,  vVren's  one 
object  was  to  provide  his  friends  the  citizens  with  what  they 
entirely  desired,  a  grand  house  in  which  to  hear  sermons. 

But,  as  1  have  hinted,  other  influences  prevailed.  Supposing 
Eno-land  to  become  once  more  Romanist,  a  cathedral  in  which 
not  only  was  there  no  provision  for  chantries  and  chapels,  but  m 
which  no  such  provision  was  possible,  would  be  useless.  The 
design,  accordingly,  which  Wren  carried  out  in  a  beautiful 
wooden  model,  still  extant,  though  much  injured  by  the  neglect 
of  successive  deans  and  chapters  of  St.  Paul's,  its  custodians, 
was  found  unsuitable  by  the  court  party. 

It  is  said,  that  on  learning  the  decision  of  the  King  and  the 
Duke  of  York,  Wren  endeavoured  to  alter  it  in  vain,  becoming 
at  length  so  agitated  as  to  shed  tears.  A  new  design  was  to  be 
produced.  We  can  well  imagine  that  Wren  felt  angry.  Weale 
has  some  appropriate  remarks  on  this  conjuncture  {London,  i. 
182):  "No  perplexity  that  can  assail  an  architect  can  well 
equal  the  difficulty  of  Wren's  task,  between  a  Protestant  nation 
and  a  Catholic  future  monarch,  to  plan  a  temple  that  might  upon 
occasion  serve  for  either  religion,  and  therefore  for  neither  well." 
2  c 


194  Modeyn  Architecture  in  England 

Undoubtedly,  he  took  some  pains  with  the  new  design.  It  was 
not  in  his  nature  to  mal<e  any  design  without  more  or  less  pains. 
Taking  the  Hnes  of  an  old  cathedral,  such  as  St  Paul's  had  been 
before  the  Fire,  and  reducing  the  confusion  of  styles  and  parts  to 
proportion  and  harmony,  he  made  a  drawing  for  the  King  and 
the  Duke.  "  Many  a  deep  study,"  says  Weale,  "  had  to  be 
wasted,  many  a  beautiful  invention  abandoned,  before  he  could 
descend  to  a  design  sufficiently  tame  and  commonplace  to  meet 
their  notions."  One  of  these  is  probably  a  design  exhibited  in 
an  unsigned  and  undated  engraving,  entitled,  "  Section  of  the 
Cathedral  Church  of  St.  Paul,  Lond :  wherein  the  Dome  is 
represented  according  to  a  former  Design  of  the  Architect,  S' 
Chr.  Wren,  K'."  The  west  end  is  in  two  storeys,  as  at  present ; 
two  chapels,  right  and  left,  are  introduced  at  the  extremity  of  the 
nave,  but  there  is  some  awkwardness  about  the  arches  which 
lead  into  them.  There  is  a  long  choir  terminating  in  an  apse. 
The  great  central  dome  is  in  its  place  ;  but  we  see  no  western 
towers,  and  no  secondary  dome.  Perhaps  it  is  to  this  design 
that  another  anonymous  engraving  belongs.  It  is  labelled 
"  Elevation  of  the  West  Front  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  Lond  : 
according  to  the  former  Design  for  the  Towers."  Any  one  who 
sees  this  drawing  for  the  first  time  will  rub  his  eyes.  It  appears 
to  be  without  the  smallest  spark  of  Wren's  genius  about  it.  The 
front,  with  its  rows  of  coupled  pillars,  was  to  be  as  it  is  now,  but 
Hanked  by  two  pepper-box  turrets,  with  little  cupolas  rising  from 
a  tame  colonnade  of  plain  pillars.  The  one  touch  of  Wren  about 
all  this  design  was  to  be  seen  in  the  position  and  supports  of  the 
dome.  Before  we  go  on  to  speak  of  it,  we  may  as  well  look  into 
the  rest  of  the  miserable  history  of  the  interference  of  Charles 
and  James,  and  its  ultimate  effect  on  Wren's  design. 


Wrens  Churches  195 

Before  finally  giving  up  hope,  he  seems  to  have  endeavoured 
to  show  that  an  east  end  of  the  most  "advanced"  character 
might  be   constructed   in   his    original  design.      A  drawing   is 
reproduced  by  Longman  in  his   Three  Cathedrals  (p.  1 1 1),  who, 
however,  gives  ho  authority  for  it,  from  which  it  would  appear 
that  Wren  proposed  to  fence  in  the  easternmost  bay  so  as  to 
produce    what   probably    led    Miss    Phillimore    to    speak    of    a 
"circular  chancel."     Longman  also  reproduced  a  design  for  the 
east  end,  which  Wren  proposed  to  fit  on  to  the  model  he  had 
made.     But  nothing  satisfied  the  Court  party,  into  which  all  the 
clergy  who  held  high  church  views  were  adroitly  drawn.     Wren 
made  drawing  after  drawing,  until  at  length,  in  utter  despair,  and 
in  the  nearest  thing  to  a  bad  temper  of  which  his  meek  and 
quiet  spirit  was  capable,  he  submitted   to  the  King  a  design 
which  makes  the  student  who  sees  it   for  the  first  time  laugh 
involuntarily.       It    is    impossible    not    to    think   of  a   Burmese 
pagoda.     To  say  it  is  ludicrous  is  to  understate  the  case.     It  is 
impossible.      How  Wren  must  have  chuckled  to  himself  while 
Charles  wrote  on  the  sketch,  "  We  found  it  very  artificial,  proper, 
and  useful."     But  Wren  had  no  idea  of  ever  carrying  it  out,  or 
anything  like  it.      He  wanted  the  King's  signature  to  a  design, 
and  now  he  had  obtained  it.     A  little  experience,  not  only  as  to 
St.  Paul's,  had  taught  him  that  the  King  had  no  taste,  and  that 
the  Duke  of  York  had,  if  possible,  less.      Longman  describes 
the  drawing  as  "poor  and  tawdry."     IMiss  Phillimore  gives  an 
amusing  account  of  it,  pronouncing  it  "artificial"  in  the  modern 
sense  of  the  word.     The  west  end  was  to  be  like  that  of  old  St. 
Paul's  as  Inigo  Jones  left  it.     "  There  is  a  low  flat  dome,  then  a 
lantern  with  ribbed  vaulting,  surmounted  by  a  spire  something 
like  St.   Bride's,  but  thin  and  ungraceful."     Elmes,  Fergusson, 


196  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

Weale,  and  Garbett  make  no  mention  of  it  ;  and,  in  truth,  it 
would  be  absurd  to  treat  it  seriously.  But  Wren  had  exactly 
gauged  his  royal  master's  inclinations,  and  by  means  of  this 
caricature  of  a  design,  he  pushed  himself  further  into  the  King's 
confidence  than  he  had  ever  been  able  to  do  by  his  best  drawings. 
Charles  added  to  his  approval  of  this  "artificial"  cathedral,  leave 
to  make  such  alterations,  "  rather  ornamental  than  essential,"  as 
from  time  to  time  he  should  see  proper,  and  furthermore  left  the 
whole  absolutely  to  Wren's  management.  This  was  in  May 
1675  ;  and  in  June  the  first  stone  was  laid.  The  design,  which 
Wren  reserved,  in  petto,  for  the  time  being,  was  even  more  unlike 
his  first  two-domed  drawing  than  it  was  unlike  the  "proper  and 
artificial  design."  Instead  of  the  tall  western  portico,  the 
difficulty  of  finding  stones  of  sufficient  size  for  the  large  columns 
of  a  single  range  obliged  him  to  adopt  two  ranges,  each  of  half 
the  size.  Two  western  towers,  as  they  were  gradually  built, 
showed  the  perfection  of  beauty  in  form  and  proportion  and 
contrast  with  the  dome.  The  dome  itself,  instead  of  being  like 
a  Burmese  pagoda,  grew  into  the  noblest  dome  in  Christendom, 
and  the  greatest  ornament  of  the  greatest  city  in  the  world.  All 
these  innovations  on  the  design  approved  by  the  King  were 
made  silently  ;  Wren  apparently  keeping  in  his  mind  as  dominant 
ideas,  first,  the  Gothic  plan,  and  secondly,  a  particular  modifica- 
tion of  that  plan,  which,  no  doubt,  he  had  observed  and  studied 
when  he  visited  his  uncle  the  Bishop,  at  Ely,  where,  by  the  way, 
his  hand  may  yet  be  traced  in  some  improvements  at  the  palace. 
This  is  not  the  place  for  a  detailed  account  of  St.  Paul's  as 
we  see  it.  I  am  glad  to  think  it  has  survived  the  so-called 
Gothic  revival,  which  more  than  once  threatened  it  with  injury 
and  even  destruction.     The  dean  and  chapter  have  always  had 


IVren's  Churches  197 

the  command  of  too  much  money,  and  where  taste  has  been 
wanting,  they  have  nevertheless,  on  account  of  their  wealth,  been 
able  to  do  things  of  which  no  one  who  has  studied  the  subject 
can  approve.     The  removal  of  the  choir-screen  and  organ  may 
be  mentioned.      I    am   not    inclined  to    condemn    the  reredos, 
which  is  very  handsome  ;  but  it  is  sadly  wanting  in  true  Palladian 
feeling.     Wren  preferred  a  baldacchino,  and  indeed  left  a  drawing 
for  one.     So  too,  it  is  very  difficult  to  give  any  approval  to  the 
coloured  figures  in  the  spandrils  of  the  dome  arches.      It  is  no 
approval  to  say,  they  are  not  so  bad  as  they  might  be.     At  first 
the  dean  and  chapter  handed  over  the  cathedral  to  a  gentleman 
for  whom  I  must  premise  that  I  had  the  greatest  respect  and 
personal  liking.     This  was  the  most  extraordinary  appointment 
ever  made,  in   all    probability,  even    by  a   dean    and    chapter. 
Burges  was    certainly   a   man    of  great  taste,  but    he   was    an 
enthusiastic  "Goth";  he  saw  little  or  no  beauty  in  St.   Paul's, 
which  he  considered  in  great  part  "  heathenish  "  ;  he  could  not 
judge  of  the  beauty  of  the  dome,  because  he  was  so  blind  that 
he  could  not  see  so  far.     To  frame  and  carry  out  a  grand  scheme 
of  Palladian  decoration,  a  scheme  which  was  to  unite  the  smallest 
and  the  most   distant   features   in   a  harmonious  whole,  in  taste 
such  as  we  may  learn  from  \'itruvius  and  the  wall-paintings  of 
Pompeii — this  task  was  entrusted  to  a  gentleman  whose  whole 
mind  was  centred  in  the  art  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  who 
from  physical  infirmity  was  not  able  to  see  more  than  a  single 
pier  of  St.  Paul's  at  a  time.      It  is  on  these  accounts  that  we 
tremble  for  St.  Paul's,  but  there  have  been  signs  of  late,  not  so 
much  of  an  improvement  in  taste,  as  of  a  recognition  of  what 
style  St.  Paul's  is  designed  in.     The  architects  of  the  reredos  are 
rather  halting  in  their  comprehension  of  the  style  ;   but  there  is 


198  Modern  Atrhitcctnrc  in  England 

nothing  Gothic  about  it.  And  an  excellent  step  has  lately  been 
taken  in  the  removal  of  Alfred  Stevens's  admirable  Wellington 
monument  from  the  baptistery  or  consistorial  court  where,  at 
the  brilliant  suggestion  of  some  bygone  dean,  it  had  been  so  long 
immured,  to  a  place  under  an  arch  of  the  nave. 

By  Wren's  strength  of  mind  in  keeping  to  himself  his  full 
intentions,  he  enlisted  time  upon  his  side.  At  first  the  chief 
thing  was  to  prepare  a  place  for  the  resumption  of  cathedral 
services.  He  accordingly  began  with  the  east  end  and  choir. 
Ten  years  were  employed  upon  them,  and  upon  portions  of  the 
transepts.  Meanwhile,  King  Charles  died,  and  James  succeeded. 
It  was  of  no  consequence  now  whether  Wren  adhered  to  the 
artificial  design  or  not.  James  cared  nothing  except  that  there 
should  be  side  aisles  and  possible  chantries  and  chapels  ;  and, 
moreover,  from  the  very  beginning  of  his  short  reign  he  had 
only  too  many  things  besides  St.  Paul's  to  occupy  his  attention. 
Service  was  duly  resumed  in  1697.  The  glorious  cupola, 
a  modification  and  improvement  upon  that  in  his  very  first 
design  of  all,  was  not  finished  for  thirteen  long  years  more ; 
namely  in  17 10,  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne. 

In  concluding  these  notes,  it  may  be  well  to  answer  the 
only  adverse  criticism  of  St.  Paul's  as  a  whole  which  seems  to 
have  any  weight  in  it.  I  say  "seems,"  because  it  has  really  no 
validity,  and  a  moment's  examination  dissipates  it.  I  may  put 
the  objection  in  the  words  of  those  critics  who  have  apparently 
thought  most  of  it.  We  do  not  find  any  such  criticism  in 
Gwilt,  Elmes,  Godwin,  or  Miss  Phillimore.  It  is  pre-eminently 
the  objection  of  the  critic  brought  up  in  the  modern  mock 
Gothic  school.  The  objection  is  that  "one  half  of  the  building 
is   built   to  conceal  the  other  half."     So   I    have   seen   it   put. 


Wrens  Churches  i99 

referring    to    the    great    wall    over    the    aisle    windows,   which 
shuts    out    of     view    the    buttressing    of     the    middle    aisle. 
Another  writer  says  it  is  "a  falsehood,"  and  actually  thinks  he 
could  improve   it.      He  suggests  that  windows  should  be  made 
into  the  triforium  where  Wren  made  only  niches.     The  obvious 
answer  is  that  there  are  windows  below  the  niches  and  that 
Wren,    for   constructional    reasons,    preferred    the    solid    wall. 
The    Gothic    architect   would    have    exposed    the    buttresses. 
Wren  thought  it  better,  in  a  Palladian  building,  to  conceal  them  ; 
and  undoubtedly  he  was  right,  but  even  if  he  had  been  wrong 
it  would  not  have  been  easy  to  hit    upon  a  better  expedient. 
But    suppose,    for    argument's    sake.   Wren    had    consented    to 
expose    his    buttresses.      If  we    examine    a    photograph    or   a 
careful  drawing  of  the  church,  we  observe  that  the  upper  storey 
of  the  exterior  of  the  nave  consists,  commencing  at  the  west 
end,  of  a  tower  of  considerable  solidity,  with  a  window  ;  of  a 
building  with   three   windows,   in   which,   as  we  know,   on  the 
south  side   is  the    library;    of  three  bays,    with  low  windows 
and  the  objectionable  niches ;  and  finally,  of  another  solid  and 
projecting  building,  which  is  admirably  placed  where  it  appears 
to  add  stability  to  the  dome.     From  this  enumeration,  it  follows 
that  our  Gothic    friends   would   alter    the    whole    character    of 
Wren's  nave,  for  the    sake  of  exposing  two  single  buttresses 
between  the  niches  just  mentioned.     This  is  absurd,  and  might 
be  so  demonstrated  by  another  method  :  suppose  Wren  replied 
that  his    building   would   be  better  here  for  the  weight  of  a 
continuous  wall  rather  than  of  an  unsupported  flying  buttress, 
there  would  be  no  answer.     The  church  has  its  faults,  within  and 
without,  but  this  is  not  one  of  them  ;  nor  was  Wren  an  architect 
who  wished  his  buildings  to  look  less  stable  than  they  really  were. 


200  Modern  Architect itye  in  England 

Numerous  as  arc  the  drawings  for  St.  Paul's,  both  by  Wren 
himself  and  by  others  his  contemporaries,  in  public  and  private 
collections,  I  believe  I  am  right  in  saying  that  no  designs  exist 
answering  to  the  church  which  Wren  completed.  He  made,  no 
doubt,  working  drawings  for  his  masons;  but  they  have  not 
come  down  to  us.  They  may  have  been  worn  away  in  the 
using.  He  had  made  many  designs  for  domes,  some  of  which 
are  very  like  the  present  dome.  On  the  whole,  it  seems  to  be 
a  perfectly  tenable  view  that  no  complete  design  was  ever  made, 
and  that  Wren  kept  to  himself  what  he  had  resolved  upon  until 
it  was  time  to  execute  it.  If  we  remember  the  long  time — not  less 
than  five-and-thirty  years — which  elapsed  between  the  laying  of 
the  first  stone  and  the  completion  of  the  w^hole  edifice,  this 
seems  to  be  the  most  likely  view. 

I  have  said  something  already  as  to  Wren's  parish  churches, 
and  his  objects  in  designing  them.  When  the  Bishop's  crusade 
against  them  ceases  and  we  come  to  count  our  losses,  it  will  be 
difficult  or  impossible  to  reconstruct  the  subtle  harmony  which 
formerly  united  them.  North  and  east  of  St.  Paul's  are  the 
three  most  beautiful  of  the  stone  steeples  ;  and  a  man  must  be 
indeed  insensible  to  the  sweet  influences  of  consummate  art,  if 
he  does  not  see  a  meaning  in  the  towers  of  Christ  Church  and 
St.  Vedast,  leading  up  to  the  tower  of  St.  Mary-le-Bow.  A 
very  fine  tower,  resembling  that  of  St.  Mary  Aldermary,  is  at 
St.  Michael,  Cornhill.  The  greater  part  of  the  church  has  been 
much  injured  of  late  years  by  an  ignorant  "restorer,"  who 
thought  he  could  improve  upon  Wren  ;  but  the  tower  is  almost 
intact.  Of  elevations,  some  of  the  most  simple  will  be  found 
the  best.  There  is  nothing  else  in  the  City  better  than  the  east 
end   in   Gracechurch  Street,  of  St.    Peter  upon    Cornhill.       A 


IVreti's  Chiiyches  201 

similar  design  was  at  St.  Olave's,  Old  Jewry  ;  but  the  Bishop 
apparently  thought  one  example  enough.  Very  handsome, 
but  perhaps  scarcely  as  delicate,  is  the  east  end  of  St.  Lawrence, 
in  Guildhall  Yard.  Another,  and  very  plain  example,  is  St. 
IMichael,  Wood  Street. 

All  Wren's  City  churches  are  worthy  of  examination  ;  but  all 
are  not  equally  important.  In  many  cases,  the  unfortunate 
parishioners  could  only  commission  him  to  spend  a  trifle  on 
their  church.  Even  in  these  cases,  he  always  left  some  pleasing 
feature — something  to  make  his  building,  however  small  and  poor, 
picturesque.  In  order,  however,  to  study  hife  style  accurately, 
it  will  be  best  to  confine  ourselves  to  his  more  ambitious  efforts 
where  money  was  not  so  scarce,  and  where  he  had  space  in 
which  to  display  his  powers.  These  larger  churches  resolve 
themselves,  so  far  as  regards  the  interior  arrangements,  into  two 
chief  categories.  Some,  like  St.  Paul's,  have  the  traditional 
Gothic  plan,  with,  however,  the  greatest  modifications.  Of  this 
class,  we  may  number  St.  Andrew'.s,  Holborn ;  St.  James's, 
Piccadilly  ;  St.  Bride's,  Fleet  Street  ;  St.  Andrew  by  the  Ward- 
robe ;  Christ  Church,  Newgate  Street,  and  a  very  few  of  smaller 
dimensions.  These  buildings  Have  galleries  in  the  side  aisles, 
something  of  a  chancel,  fine  roofs,  chiefly  of  ornamented  "  barrel 
vaulting,"  a  conspicuous  east  window,  and  many  other  features, 
such  as  we  expect  in  a  large  ancient  church.  The  gallery  is  an 
integral  part  of  the  design,  not  an  afterthought,  as  in  most 
Gothic  churches  ;  but  it  can  hardly  be  asserted  by  the  most 
partial  observer  that  Wren  succeeded  from  an  artistic 
point  of  view  with  his  galleries.  At  St.  James's  a  single 
Corinthian  pillar  rises  from  the  gallery,  and  supports  an  exceed- 
ingly beautiful  roof.  Below,  the  gallery  is  supported  by  a  ^ 
2  D 


202  Modern  Architecttire  in  England 

square  prop,  of  no  beauty,  and  calculated  to  intercept  the  view 
of  any  one  who  sits  near.  At  St.  Bride's  there  is  a  wholly 
different  arrangement.  Rising  from  the  level  of  the  pews  are 
coupled  Tuscan  columns  ;  and  the  front  of  the  gallery  runs  along 
between  the  columns  ;  a  square  prop  being  placed  below  to  in- 
crease the  appearance,  if  not  the  reality,  of  strength.  The  pillars 
support  a  row  of  arches,  as  in  a  Gothic  church,  which  impart 
great  lightness.  Above  them,  again,  are  circular  windows  in  the 
vaulting.  At.  St.  James's  there  are  no  attic  windows  ;  but  the 
church  never  suffered  from  any  want  of  light  until  some  modern 
stained  glass  was  inserted.  The  Gothic  revival,  oddly  enough, 
has  never  taught  glaziers  that  the  object  of  windows  is  to  admit 
light.  In  most  churches  of  this  character.  Wren  made  distinct  pro- 
vision for  a  small  chancel.  In  short,  had  the  wishes  and  schemes 
of  James  II.  been  successful,  these  churches  would  have  easily 
been  "converted,"  so  as  to  become  convenient  for  the  celebration 
of  Mass.  They  all  partake  of  the  character  of  St.  Katharine 
Cree,  except  for  their  galleries. 

It  is  easy  to  figure  to  ourselves  Wren  turning  with  pleasure 
from  churches  of  this  model  to  those  in  which  he  could  renew 
his  old  e.xperiences  of  the  Sheldonian.  His  conception  of  a 
great  preaching-house  was  not  fulfilled  by  St.  Paul's  or  even 
St.  James's.  He  wanted  to  roof  in  as  wide  a  space  as 
possible,  without  interruptions  to  the  view  by  pillars  or  piers. 
Fergusson  reproaches  him  with  being  more  of  an  engineer 
than  of  an  architect ;  but  that  shows  how  little  Fersrusson 
understood  Wren's  work.  Whatever  happened,  he  never  lost 
sight  of  the  abstract  elements  of  beauty,  such  as  fitness, 
picturesqueness,  and  above  all  proportion.  Some  of  these 
plain    chambers,   with    their   flat   roofs,   are   full   of  charm,   and 


JVren's  C lit irc lies  203 

give  the  clearest  possible  evidence  of  the  intentions  of  their 
desiofner. 

The  finest  of  these  churches  is  probably  St.  Lawrence.  It 
is  that  in  which  the  great  public  religious  ceremonials  of  the 
Corporation  take  place  ;  and  Wren  was  evidently  actuated  by 
a  desire  to  make  it  in  every  way  suitable  to  such  func- 
tions. The  seats  appropriated  to  the  Corporation  are  in  the 
centre,  and  very  conspicuous.  The  church  measures  81  feet  by 
68.  The  roof,  40  feet  high,  is  ingeniously  and  beautifully 
formed  of  deeply  -  sunk  panels,  ornamented  with  the  delicate 
plaster  work  which  Wren  so  greatly  affected.  The  central  idea 
of  a  preaching-house  is  enhanced  by  the  way  in  which  the  roof 
meets  the  walls  ;  namely,  in  a  series  of  coved  spaces,  with  en- 
riched scroll-work,  both  to  give  a  look  of  stability  not  at  all 
necessary,  and  also  with  a  view  to  helping  the  voice  without 
echo  or  ring.  There  is  no  chancel.  The  holy  table  stands  in  its 
place  at  the  centre  of  the  eastern  end.  The  cost  was  enormous 
for  Wren — _^i  1,870  :  i  :  9. 

Wren  employed  this  method  in  building  one  or  two  other 
important  churches  and  several  smaller  ones.  St.  Vedast, 
Foster  Lane,  is  a  good  example,  as  was  St.  Mary  Somerset,  on 
which  the  Bishop  has  laid  his  destructive  hand.  Another  which 
has  disappeared  is  All  Hallows  the  Great.  St.  Mary  Abchurch 
is  nearly  a  square,  65  feet  by  60;  and  St.  Michael,  Oueenhithe, 
now  pulled  down,  was  nearly  two  squares,  being  71  feet  by  40. 
In  several  of  these  there  is  a  kind  of  single  side  aisle,  often  so 
irregular  in  plan  that  we  should  be  puzzled,  but  that  we  remember 
Wren's  great  object  was  to  roof  in  the  whole  of  the  space  at  his 
command,  and  that  this  space  was  defined  by  the  old  church  with 
its  chancel,  its  aisles,  its  side  chapels,  and  its  chantries  ;  some  of 


204  Modern  Ardiitedure  in  England 

them  no  doubt  highly  eccentric  in  axis  to  the  main  body  of  the 
church.  But  Wren  had  in  most  cases  not  only  to  provide  for 
an  increased  population  in  the  parish,  but  for  the  incorporation 
with  it  of  another  parish  ;  and  he  was  obliged,  while  making 
but  one  chamber,  to  work  in  every  available  morsel  of  space. 

In  1679,  Wren  had  to  design  a  church  for  one  of  the  most 
irregular  of  these  spaces.  This  was  the  site  of  old  "  St.  Swithin's 
at  London  Stone."  He  showed  himself  equal  to  the  task,  and 
roofed  in  every  inch  of  open  ground.  In  doing  so,  he  adopted 
a  new  expedient ;  and  St.  Swithin's  is  one  of  five  parish  churches 
with  cupolas  which  he  built  in  the  City.  The  others  are,  or 
were,  St.  Benet  Fink,  pulled  down ;  St.  Mildred's,  Bread  Street ; 
St.  Stephen's,  Wallbrook  ;  and  St.  Mary  Abchurch. 

St.  Stephen's  had  the  good  or  ill  fortune  to  belong  to 
the  Grocers'  Company.  The  consequence  is  both  that  the 
authorities  were  able  to  incur  a  little  extra  expense  in  the 
original  design,  and  also  that  ever  since,  with  every  changing 
caprice  of  architectural  taste,  they  have  done  their  best  to 
obliterate  Wren's  handiwork.  The  church  is  very  well  known  ; 
and  visitors  are  fortunate  who  saw  it  before  the  last  alteration. 
I  may  quote  a  notice  printed  in  1823  in  Elmes's  Life  of  Wren. 
Elmes  forgets  grammar,  and  even  sense,  in  his  enthusiasm  ;  but 
somehow  he  conveys  a  very  vivid  impression  of  the  now 
departed  charm  of  a  building  of  which  Canova  said  that  if  he 
revisited  England  it  would  be  to  see  St.  Paul's,  Somerset  House, 
and  St.  Stephen's,  Wallbrook.  Elmes  says,  "  The  beauty  of  the 
interior  of  this  church  arises  from  its  lightness  and  elegance. 
On  entering  from  the  street,  by  about  a  dozen  or  more  of  steps, 
through  a  vestibule  of  dubious  obscurity,  on  opening  the  hand- 
some folding  wainscot  doors,  a  halo  of  dazzling  light  flashes  at 


o 
z 

w 


c^ 


Wrens  Churches 


207 


once  upon  the  eye  ;  and  a  lovely  band  of  Corinthian  columns 
of  beauteous  proportions  appear  in  magic  mazes  before  you. 
The  expansive  cupola  and  supporting  arches  expand  their  airy 
shapes  like  gossamer  ;  and  the  sweetly  proportioned  embellished 
architrave-cornice,  of  original  lightness  and  application,  completes 
the  charm.  On  a  second  look,  the  columns  slide  into  complete 
order  like  a  band  of  young  and  elegant  dancers  at  the  close  of 
a  quadrille.  Then  the  pedestals  concealed  by  the  elaborate 
pewings,  which  are  sculptured  into  the  form  of  a  solid  stylobate, 
opening  up  the  nave,  under  the  cupola  to  the  great  recess  which 
contains  the  altar,  and  West's  fine  historical  picture  of  the  stoning 
of  St.  Stephen,  lift  up  the  entire  column  to  the  level  of  the  eye ; 
their  brown  and  brawny  solids  supporting  the  delicate  white 
forms  of  the  entire  order." 

The  last  part  of  this  curious  passage — that  relating  to  the 
pewings — should  be  specially  noted.  The  arrangement  of  the 
dark  oak  wainscoting  produced  a  most  interesting  scenic  effect. 
When  you  entered  from  below,  the  church  seemed  to  rise  above 
you.  All  its  architectural  features  began  to  show,  so  to  speak, 
above  the  level  of  the  tall  sombre  pews.  The  size,  and  especially 
the  height  of  the  church  were  so  enhanced  that  it  was  impossible 
to  believe  that  it  was  only  87  feet  10  inches  by  64  feet  10  inches, 
with  63  feet  to  the  top  of  the  highest  part  of  the  dome. 
Fergusson,  who  was  no  enthusiastic  admirer  of  Wren,  says  that 
here  he  produced  "  the  most  pleasing  interior  of  any  Renaissance 
church  which  has  yet  been  erected."  Further  on  he  repeats  : 
"  There  is  a  cheerfulness,  an  elegance,  and  appropriateness 
about  the  interior  which  pleases  every  one."  The  leading  idea 
of  the  architect  was  to  place  "  a  circular  dome  on  an  octagonal 
base,  supported  by  eight  pillars,"  and  Mr.  Fergusson  considered 


2o8  Modern  Architect  lire  in  England 

this  was  an  "  early  and  long  a  favourite  mode  of  roofing  in  the 
East,  and  the  consequent  variety  obtained  by  making  the 
diverging  aisles  respectively  in  the  ratio  of  7  to  10,  infinitely 
more  pleasing  than  the  Gothic  plan  of  doubling  them,  unless  the 
height  was  doubled  at  the  same  time."  What  Fergusson  meant 
by  "  the  East,"  I  do  not  know.  There  was  nothing  to  compare 
to  St.  Stephen's  in  India,  Syria,  or  Egypt  before  the  time  of 
Wren,  whose  design,  in  any  case,  must  be  accounted  wholly 
original. 

This  church  has  always  laboured  under  the  same  disadvan- 
tage as  St.  Paul's.  The  authorities  concerned  with  it  have 
always  had  too  much  money.  I  have  not  heard  that  St. 
Stephen's  has  been  scheduled  for  destruction  by  the  com- 
mittee;  but  after  the  "restoration,"  we  may  regard  its  ruin 
with  comparative  equanimity.  The  great  scenic  charm  of  the 
interior  has  been  carefully  and  elaborately  removed.  It  no 
longer  bursts  upon  the  view  as  we  ascend  from  what  Elmes 
calls  "the  vestibule  of  dubious  obscurity."  The  interior  has 
been  gutted.  The  panelling  which  had  such  a  magic  effect 
has  been  removed.  The  floor  has  been  laid  down  with  coarse 
mosaic.  The  pedestals  of  the  pillars  are  exposed,  with  a 
disastrous  result ;  and  in  the  centre  a  few  yellow  oak  seats, 
fresh  from  Tottenham  Court  Road,  have  been  placed,  as  if 
to  accentuate  the  smallness  of  the  congregation.  We  all 
admire  courage,  and  perhaps  some  readers  would  like  to  know 
the  name  of  the  gentleman  who  ventured  so  boldly  to  improve 
upon  Wren's  masterpiece.  It  is  Peebles,  and  he  is  understood 
to  be  a  very  accomplished  architect. 

Mr.  Wheatley  says  that  Wren  was  averse  to  the  use  of  these 
panellings,  and  that  they  were  forced  upon  him  by  the  Grocers' 


IVrciis  CJiurcJies  209 

Company ;  and  Miss  Phillimore  speaks  of  "  the  disfiguring 
pews  "  which  she  desired  to  see  removed.  Neither  of  these 
writers  apparently  understood  that  even  if  they  were  forced 
upon  Wren,  which  I  must  take  leave  to  doubt,  he  used  them 
in  such  a  way  as  to  make  them  an  integral  part  of  the  design. 
Tinkering  of  all  kinds  has  gone  on  for  many  years,  and  the 
"restoration"  of  Mr.  Peebles  was  only  the  final  step  in  a  long 
series  of  such  ruinous  operations.  Among  the  first  was  a 
frightful  vandalism,  the  insertion  of  mock-medicneval  stained 
glass  in  the  windows.  But  the  treatment  of  this  little  gem 
of  architecture  is  not  a  subject  pleasant  enough  to  be  dwelt  on 
here.  It  has  always  been  very  difficult  to  obtain  access  to  the 
interior  on  a  week  day  ;  and  the  visitor  need  not  now  go  to 
the  trouble  which  in  Canova's  time  and  later  was  necessary 
before  the  key  could  be  found. 

It  has  often  been  remarked  by  architectural  writers  that  St. 
Stephen's  would  form  an  admirable  model  for  a  modern  church. 
Several  attempts  in  this  direction  have  resulted  in  failure.  The 
reason  is  easily  found.  If  an  imitator  either  enlarged  or 
diminished  St.  Stephen's,  the  proportions  would  be  lost.  A 
St.  Stephen's  double  the  size  would  have  a  wholly  different 
effect.  It  is  so  small  that  the  imitators  have  generally  tried 
to  build  something  larger ;  but  there  would  be  great  difficulty 
in  making  the  needful  calculation.  It  cannot  be  done  by  rule 
of  thumb.  It  may  be  worth  while  here  to  mention  that  some 
admirable  drawings  of  St.  Stephen's,  by  Mr.  Edmund  H. 
Sedding,  were  engraved  in  the  Builder  on  3rd  January  1885, 
having  gained  the  Royal  Academy  medal  in  1S84.  The 
drawings  were  made  before  the  church  was  "  restored." 

St.  Mildred,  Bread  Street,  was  finished  in   1683.      It  is  but 
2  E 


2 1  o  Modem  ArcJiitecture  in  Euglaud 

small,  62  feet  by  36,  but  obtains  a  certain  dignity  from  the 
dome,  which  rises  to  a  height  of  40  feet.  The  plaster  orna- 
mentation is  even  worse  than  that  in  the  dome  of  St.  Stephen, 
Wallbrook,  but  the  exquisite  carving  of  the  pulpit  and  of  the 
fine  Corinthian  reredos  goes  far  to  redeem  it.  This  church 
deserves  more  attention  than  it  usually  receives,  both  as  an 
example  of  how  to  make  the  most  of  a  very  small  site  and  of 
how  to  build  a  cupola  in  the  simplest  manner  and  with  the  most 
ordinary  materials.  It  is  technically  described  as  follows  : — It 
is  formed  within  the  external  roof  by  means  of  slight  deal  ribs 
attached  to  the  principal  timbers.  They  are  lathed  and 
plastered.  The  whole  roof  is  of  an  ordinary  tie-beam  and 
king -post  construction;  but  in  that  part  which  occurs  im- 
mediately over  the  cupola,  the  tie-beam,  instead  of  being 
attached  to  the  foot  of  each  principal  rafter,  as  usual,  is  raised 
about  half-way  up,  in  order  to  admit  the  rise  of  the  cupola  ;  and 
diagonal  braces  from  rafter  to  rafter  are  introduced.  I  take  this 
description  from  Godwin  and  Britton,  who  add,  "  the  architec- 
tural student  may  derive  advantage  from  an  examination  of  it." 

St.  Mary  Abchurch  is  built  on  a  slightly  more  ambitious 
scale,  as  it  is  almost  a  square,  being  65  feet  by  60.  It  was 
finished  in  1685,  all  but  twenty  years  after  the  fire.  It  is  well 
worth  a  visit,  as  well  for  the  ingenuity  of  the  plan,  for  the 
beauty  of  the  design,  and  for  the  exquisite  finish  of  the  carved 
oak,  in  this  case,  there  is  little  doubt,  by  Grinling  Gibbons 
himself  The  cupola  was  decorated  with  painted  angels 
by  Sir  James  Thornhill,  which  look  far  better  than  the 
plaster  angels  in  St.  Mildred's.  The  altar-piece,  also  of 
Corinthian  columns,  is  particularly  fine.  The  gallery,  added 
in    1822,    rather    accentuates    than    conceals    the    irregularity 


IVreris  Churches  2 1 1 

of  the  plan.  The  cost  of  this  handsome  church  was  only 
^4900. 

St.  Swithin's  resembles  St.  Mary  Abchurch  in  several 
particulars,  but  the  exterior  is  much  more  ornamental.  It  is 
61  feet  long,  42  feet  from  east  to  west,  and  40  feet  high.  The 
roof  is  formed  into  an  octagon  cupola  by  a  very  ingenious 
arrangement  of  the  timbers.  The  rest  of  the  church  has  been 
much  pulled  about  by  "restorers,"  one  of  whom,  in  1869,  made 
a  determined  attempt  to  Gothicise  it. 

Of  Wren's  Gothic  churches  it  is  not  needful  to  say  much. 
The  great  spire  of  Lichfield  Cathedral  has  lately,  on  question- 
able grounds,  been  attributed  to  him.  The  most  interesting 
in  London  is  St.  Dunstan's  in  the  East,  the  tower  and  spire 
of  which  will  remind  the  spectator  of  St.  Nicholas  at  New- 
casde  ;  but  the  mouldings  and  other  features  in  their  delicacy 
are  Wren's  own.  I  know  that  many  competent  judges  do 
not  admire  Wren's  Gothic  mouldings  ;  but  at  least  they  are 
better  than  their  coarse  substitutes  in  modern  Gothic.  Both 
may  be  studied  in  St.  Michael  upon  Cornhill.  St.  Dun- 
stan's was  lately  condemned,  incredible  as  it  may  seem. 
The  parishioners  were  amused  with  the  usual  tale.  The 
steeple,  it  was  said,  had  been  wholly  renewed  since  W^ren's 
time,  and  the  design  altered.  A  provisional  consent  was 
wrung  from  them  ;  and  the  committee  gave  out  that  the 
church  was  about  to  be  destroyed.  Fortunately,  how- 
ever, the  matter  came  to  the  ears  of  a  gentleman  who  had 
been  connected  with  St.  Antholin's,  Watling  Street ;  and  he 
recognised  the  same  old  story  that  had  worked  so  effectually 
with  him  and  his  fellow -parishioners  in  1875.  A  letter  in  the 
Times   betrayed   the   whole    scheme.       The    provisional    vote 


212  Modeyn  yJ  reinfect  lire  in  England 

was  at  once  cancelled.  The  church  is  still,  of  course,  in 
imminent  danger.  The  agent  will  next  time,  no  doubt, 
have  invented  a  fresh  assertion  ;  and  as  long  as  these 
precious  buildings  are  at  the  mercy  of  parishioners  who 
can  be  cajoled  or  coerced  by  interested  agents,  we  are 
bound  to  feel  uneasy.  Another  Gothic  church  by  Wren  was 
interesting;  that  of  St.  Alban,  Wood  Street.  It  has  been 
bedizened  by  a  modern  mock  Gothic  architect,  and  all  its 
points  of  interest  removed.  Too  much  has  also  been  done  to 
improve  Wren  at  St.  Mary  Aldermary  ;  but  it  is  still  in  a  fairly 
genuine  condition. 


VIII 


THE    SUCCESSORS   OF   WREN 


VIII 
THE    SUCCESSORS    OF   WREN 

Vanbrugh — Hawksmoor  —  Gibbs  — James — Archer —  Burlington — Campbell — Kent 
— Taylor — Chambers — Adam — Wood  of  Bath — Baldwin — Palladian  in  the 
Provinces  —  Dublin  —  The  Bank  —  The  Four  Courts — The  Custom  House  — 
Trinity  College — Barry's  Club  Houses — The  Grecian  Style — The  Reign  of 
Stucco — The  New  Gothic — Conclusion. 

In  one  respect,  Wren  fared  better  than  Inigo  Jones.  He  both 
founded  a  school  and  lived  to  see  it  flourish.  Thoucrh  he  had 
practically  retired  many  years  before  his  death  in  1723,  he  could 
see  around  him  several  architects  well  able  to  take  up  and  carry 
on  his  tradition.  The  best  of  them  was  undoubtedly  Burlington, 
who  had  already  commenced  operations  in  Piccadilly  ;  but  of 
Wren's  immediate  followers,  Hawksmoor  who  was  his  pupil, 
Gibbs  who  worked  on  parallel  lines.  Archer,  James,  and  two  or 
three  more  were  all  in  practice.  Vanbrugh,  however,  was  the 
only  one  who  showed  much  originality  ;  and  this  is  perhaps  as 
well.  Outside  the  pale  of  his  immediate  following  were  Kent, 
whose  work  singularly  resembles  Wren's,  and  can,  in  fact,  hardly 
be  distinguished  from  it  either  at  Kensington  or  Hampton 
Court ;  and  Colen  Campbell,  both  of  whom  worked  under 
Burlington.  From  him  they  derived  anything  of  the  nature  of 
originality  or  genius  which  either  of  them  showed.  In  addition 
to  all  these,  we  must  not  overlook  the  claims  of  the  elder  Wood, 


2i6  Modern  ArcJiitcctnre  in  England 

who,  in  1728,  five  years  after  Wren's  death,  began  the  north 
side  of  Queen's  Square  at  Bath— assuredly  the  most  satisfactory 
piece  of  town  architecture  erected  in  the  style  up  to  that  date. 

We  need  not  dwell  long  on  the  career  of  Vanbrugh.  He 
resembled  certain  very  successful  architects  of  our  own  day.  If 
he  had  any  knowledge  or  any  artistic  perceptions,  he  carefully 
concealed  them.  His  chief  country  houses,  Castle  Howard  and 
Blenheim,  amply  justify  the  mocking  epitaph  : 

Lie  heavy  on  him,  earth,  for  he 
Laid  many  a  heavy  load  on  thee. 

His  style  consisted  in  the  negation  of  style.      If  a  Composite 
column  should  be  no  more  than  ten  diameters  high,  Vanbrugh 
made  it  twelve  or  fourteen.     At  Castle  Howard,  he  treats  us  to 
two  rows  of  columns   on   the  same   front,    both  of  the  same 
Corinthian    order,   yet    the    proportions    of  the    two    rows  are 
different.     At  Blenheim  his  columns  are  few  and  unobtrusive ; 
but  his  windows  with  their  thick  ungraceful  mouldings  have  the 
most  gloomy  effect.     Similar  windows  occur  also  at  Greenwich, 
and  seem  in  fact  to  have  been  a  necessary  part  of  most  of  his 
buildings.    As  for  proportion,  he  cannot  have  thought  much  about 
it ;  but  if  he  did,  he  seems  to  have  been  satisfied  when  he  made 
a  house  look  like  a  fortress,  or  a  palace  look  like  a  mausoleum. 
Nevertheless  hewas  in  vogue,  partly,  no  doubt,  as  a  kind  of  reaction 
against  the  strictness  of  the  Palladian  rule.     He  talked  cleverly. 
He  wrote  plays.    He  posed  as  a  wit  and  a  man  of  fashion  ;  but  so 
far  as  my  limited  powers  of  observation  go,  his  genius,  allowing 
that  he  had  any  genius,  was  the  reverse  of  Wren's.     Wren  had  a 
capacity  for  taking  trouble,  Vanbrugh  a  nearly  equal  capacity  for 
saving  himself  trouble.   I  cannot  account  for  it  that  Fergusson,  who 


2  F 


TJie  Successors  of  IVreii  219 

is  severely  critical  of  Wren,  has  nothing  but  praise  for  Vanbrugh. 
He  says  of  him  (p.  283),  "  He  never  faltered  in  his  career  ;  and 
from  first  to  last — at  Blenheim  and  Castle  Howard,  as  at  Seaton 
Delaval  and  Grimsthorpe — there  is  one  principle  runs  through 
all  his  designs,  and  it  was  a  worthy  one — a  lofty  aspiration  after 
grandeur  and  eternity."  Though  the  English  of  this  passage  is 
questionable,  the  meaning  is  perfectly  clear,  and  I  can  only  sup- 
pose that  Fergusson  could  understand  the  crude  art  of  Vanbrugh, 
and  could  not  appreciate  the  subtlety  of  Wren,  whom,  indeed, 
in  one  passage  he  characterises  as  more  an  engineer  than  an 
architect,  a  singularly  unfortunate  remark.  True,  Wren  was  an 
engineer  and  an  astronomer,  and  much  besides  ;  but  though  in 
these  pursuits  he  has  since  been  often  excelled,  as  an  architect 
he  still  stands  alone.  Vanbrugh  was  constantly  set  up  in  oppo- 
sition to  Wren,  and  is  said  to  have  been  commissioned  to  design 
Blenheim,  because  Wren  had  offended  the  duchess  about  Marl- 
borough House  in  Pall  Mall  ;  but  the  sequence  of  the  two 
events  is  reversed  by  some  authorities.  Vanbrugh  was  chosen, 
whatever  the  reason  ;  and  it  was  an  unlucky  choice.  Blenheim, 
as  we  see  it,  is  a  monster  of  shapelessness  and,  indeed,  positive 
ugliness,  and  does  not  contain  a  single  exterior  feature,  or  a 
single  interior  apartment,  of  which  we  can  speak  in  praise. 
Everything  is  enormous  in  scale  and  anomalous  in  design. 
Fortunately,  Vanbrugh  was  not  employed  to  build  any  im- 
portant churches  ;  and,  in  fact,  his  style,  or  want  of  style,  is  now 
chiefly  interesting  as  marking  a  reaction  against  Wren. 

The  rules  were  very  strictly  observed  in  the  works  of  Hawks- 
moor,  Gibbs,  James,  and  others,  who  found  in  them  a  refuge  from 
the  absolute  want  of  originality  which  characterised  them  all. 
Hawksmoor  was  employed  as  clerk  of  the  works  both  to  Wren 


220  Modern  Architecttire  i)i  England 

and  to  Vanbrugh  during  a  considerable  part  of  his  career.      The 
passing  of  the  act  for  building  fifty  new  churches  brought   him 
some  tasks  of  a  public  character ;  and  the  best  of  the  fifty  is  un- 
doubtedly his,  namely  St.   George's  Bloomsbury.     An  eminent 
Gothic  architect  was  turned  loose  upon  it  lately,  with  the  usual 
effect.      He   removed   the  galleries  of  which    Hawksmoor  was 
probably  most  proud  ;  but  he  could  not  destroy  the  noble  portico 
of  Corinthian  columns.     He  took  down  the  characteristic  lion 
and  unicorn  from  the  steeple,  but  did  not  take  down  the  steeple 
itself,  said  to  be  an  attempt  to  realise  ancient  descriptions  of  the 
mausoleum  at  Halicarnassus.     A  few  years  ago,  the  temporary 
removal  of  some  surrounding  houses  enabled  us  to  see  the  ex- 
traordinary picturesqueness  of  the  body  of  the  church.      Hawks- 
moor  did  not  reach  the  high  level  of  St.  George's  again.      His 
St.  Mary  Wolnoth  is  too  heavy,  though  picturesque  ;  and  in  the 
interior  the  gallery  question,  which  so  greatly  taxed  even  Wren, 
came  very  near  to  a  solution.      His  St.   George's  in  the  East 
acknowledged  the  power  of  Vanbrugh's  influence,  and,  though 
lighter  and  more  graceful  than  anything  of  Vanbrugh's,  is  quite 
as  anomalous.     The  towers  at  All  Souls  at  Oxford,  like  so  much 
of  his  work,  are  picturesque  ;  and  altogether  it  must  be  said  of 
Hawksmoor  that,  more   than   any   other  of  Wren's   immediate 
successors,  he  showed  signs  of  being  able  to  think  for  himself. 
Born  in  1661  he  survived  his  great  master  thirteen  years,  dying 
in   1736.     James  Gibbs,  whose  churches  in   London  are  much 
more  conspicuous,  was  twenty  years  younger,  and  lived  till  1754. 
Gibbs  has  left  an  interesting  volume  of  engravings  from  his 
own  designs.      His  anxiety  to  attain  or  choose  the  best  sometimes 
amounts    to    fastidiousness    and    sometimes    degenerates    into 
irresolution.      It   never  resembles  Wren's  endless  "capacity  for 


TJie  Successors  of  Wren  221 

taking  pains,"  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  is  it  Hke  Vanbrugh's  lazy 
striving  for  originality.  Gibbs  habitually  committed  one  serious 
crime  in  designing  churches.  He  placed  the  tower  on  the  top 
of  the  portico.  When  we  look  at  St.  Martin's  in  Trafalgar 
Square,  our  admiration  is  constantly  harassed  by  the  thought  of 
how  much  finer  it  would  have  been  it  the  tower  had  been  north 
of  the  portico.  The  view  from  the  south  side  of  the  square 
would  then  have  been  the  finest  of  its  kind  in  London.  But 
Gibbs  missed  it,  and  has  more  than  half  spoilt  his  grand 
Corinthian  portico  by  imposing  his  tower  and  spire  as  if  they 
grew  from  the  roof  "without  any  visible  means  of  support." 
Wren  always  set  the  base  of  his  steeple  squarely  on  the  ground, 
and  seldom  set  it  exactly  at  one  end  or  other  of  his  church. 
Gibbs  transgressed  again  in  the  same  way,  but  less  flagrantly, 
in  St.  Mary-le-Strand,  as  well  as  in  a  design  for  a  round  church, 
in  his  book,  never  carried  out. 

Some  proposals  have  recently  been  made  to  alter  the 
portico  of  St.  Martin.  The  exact  object  of  these  proposals  has 
not  transpired.  The  roadway  is  more  than  wide  enough  for 
the  traffic  ;  and  if  any  building  in  the  neighbourhood  is  to  suffer, 
let  it  be  the  National  Gallery  on  the  opposite  side.  The 
portico,  in  architectural  language,  is  hexastyle,  of  the  Corinthian 
order  ;  the  intercolumniations  being  of  two  diameters  and  a  half, 
and  the  projection  of  the  portico  of  two  intercolumniations. 

Conspicuous  as  St.  Martin's  is,  the  little  church  of  St.  Mary- 
le-Strand  is  nearly  as  well  known  ;  and  if  a  projected  improve- 
ment be  carried  out  it  will  form  the  central  feature  of  a  new 
square.  Gibbs  built  it  seven  years  at  least  before  St.  Martin's  ; 
and  it  cannot  be  said  that  his  art  improved  in  the  interval. 
The  proportions  of  St.    Mary's   are  exceedingly  delicate,  and 


222 


Modem  Architecture  in  Eiii^laiid 


were  evidently  thought  out  by  the  architect  with  ii  view  to 
adorning  the  situation.  A  proposal  to  remove  the  whole  church 
and  rebuild  it  elsewhere  was  gravely  made  three  or  four  years 
ago  ;  but  St.  Mary's  would  simply  look  absurd  in  any  other  place 
than  the  narrow  and  crowded  thoroughfare  for  which  it  was 
desipfned. 

Gibbs's  other  designs  call  for  little  notice.  He  built  a  con- 
siderable part  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital.  He  designed 
the  Senate  House  at  Cambridge  for  Sir  James  Borough  :  part 
of  a  larger  plan  never  carried  out.  Sudbrook,  near  Richmond, 
is  still  very  much  what  it  was  while  it  was  inhabited  by  the 
great  Duke  of  Argyll  and  Greenwich  ;  but  none  of  these  build- 
ings call  for  special  remark.  Of  his  churches,  St.  Peter's  in 
Vere  Street  has  been  thoroughly  refitted  within  the  past  few 
years  ;  and  perhaps  the  handiwork  of  Gibbs  will  be  most  easily 
recognised  at  Whitchurch,  near  Edgeware,  which  he  rebuilt  for 
the  Duke  of  Chandos.  The  east  end  is  lined  with  carved  oak, 
and  contains  an  alcove  of  the  Corinthian  order,  in  which  is 
placed  the  organ  of  the  immortal  Handel.  The  Radcliffe 
Library  at  Oxford  is  perhaps  the  most  important  of  Gibbs's 
works,  and  is  well  known  for  its  delicate  proportions  and  grace- 
ful dome,  and  for  the  charming  feature  it  makes  in  every  view 
of  O.xford. 

One  of  his  most  pleasing  compositions  is  a  monument  in  the 
north  transept  of  Westminster  Abbey.  It  was  erected  by  "the 
Lady  Henrietta  Cavendishe  Holies  Harley,"  afterwards  Lady 
Oxford,  to  the  memory  of  her  father,  the  Duke  of  Newcastle. 
There  seems  to  have  been  what  is  now  common,  a  competition 
among  the  architects  for  this  monument,  as  Gibbs  says  in  his 
book,  already  mentioned,  that,  "  this  draught  was  pitched  upon 


a 
< 
> 


ST.    MARY-LESTRAND.     UY  GIBBS 


2   G 


TJie  Successors  of  Wroi  227 

amongst  many  others."  The  print  in  Gibbs's  book  is  by  Vertue, 
but  there  is  another  by  Cole,  in  Dart's  Westminster  Abbey, 
which  represents  the  design  as  it  is,  with  the  front  curved. 
When  it  was  new,  with  its  gilding  and  heraldry,  and  the 
coloured  marble  Corinthian  columns,  this  monument  must  have 
been  very  handsome,  especially  as  there  were  hardly  any  others 
at  that  time  in  the  transept,  now  so  crowded.  Gibbs  also 
designed  for  Westminster  Abbey  monuments  to  Prior  the  poet, 
and  Ben  Jonson,  both  commissioned  by  Lord  Oxford,  and  to 
a  Mrs.  Bovey  and  a  Mr.  Smith.  Lord  Oxford  furthermore 
employed  him  to  build  a  church  in  Vere  Street,  a  very  plain 
performance.  Gibbs,  who  came  from  Aberdeen,  was,  like  Inigo 
Jones,  a  Roman  Catholic,  but  was  buried  in  what  used  to  be 
then  the  church  of  St.  Mary-le-Bone,  now  the  parish  chapel, 
and  near  him  Rysbrack,  the  sculptor,  who  had  carried  out  so 
many  of  his  designs. 

Of  James,  there  is  little  to  be  said,  except  that  he  built  St. 
George's,  Hanover  Square,  a  heavy  but  handsome  church,  and 
St.  Alphage  at  Greenwich,  which  is  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to 
attain  picturesqueness  by  eccentricity.  It  is  sometimes  attributed 
to  Hawksmoor,  but  looks  much  more  like  the  work  of  James. 
Another  architect  of  this  school  was  Archer,  who  built  St. 
John's  church  at  Westminster,  which  has  been  unsparingly 
criticised,  chiefly  on  account  of  its  four  corner  towers,  or  belfries, 
as  Walpole  calls  them.  But  the  objectors  did  not  notice  that 
these  towers  were  a  structural  necessity,  as  when  the  church 
was  built  it  was  found  not  to  be  strong  enough  for  its  situation 
in  marshy  ground.  Archer  also  designed  Cliefden  House,  which 
has  been  much  altered  of  late.  We  should  also  mention  Vardy, 
whose  Spencer  House,  in  the  Green  Park,  is  modelled  closely 


228  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

after  Inigo  Jones.  It  is  figured  in  the  Vitruvius  Britannicus, 
iv.  ^J.  He  also  designed  Uxbridge  House,  Burlington 
Gardens. 

The  greatest  of  all  the  architects  who  followed  Wren  in  the 
first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  was,  strange  to  say,  strictly 
speaking,  an  amateur.  This  was  Richard,  third  earl  of  Burling- 
ton and  fourth  earl  of  Cork,  who  was  born  in  1693,  ^'""^  d'^*^  '" 
1753.  If  Burlington  had  enjoyed  the  good  fortune  to  be  born 
poor,  his  fame  as  an  architect  might  haply  have  rivalled  that  of 
Inigo  Jones,  if  not  that  of  Wren  himself.  Burlington  had  an 
unbounded  admiration  for  Inigo  and  all  his  works.  It  was  by 
his  superintending  munificence  that  Kent  was  able  to  publish 
the  two  beautiful  volumes  of  Jones's  designs  ;  and,  as  is  well 
known,  he  restored  and  preserved  the  church  in  Covent  Garden. 
His  modesty  exceeded  even  his  ability,  and  he  willingly  per- 
mitted so  inferior  an  architect  as  Colen  Campbell  to  claim  and 
receive  the  praises  earned  by  the  beautiful  design  of  Burlington 
House.  Unfortunately,  very  little  of  his  work  can  be  positively 
identified.  In  London,  Burlington  House  has  been  practically 
destroyed.  The  house  of  Marshal  Wade  has  disappeared, 
though  it  survives  in  the  courtyard  of  a  hotel,  and  still  has  its 
lovely  staircase.  The  design  is  also  preserved  in  the  Provost's 
House  in  Dublin,  imitated  by  an  architect  named  Smith.  The 
best  specimen  of  Burlington's  work  that  exists  is  hidden  away 
behind  Westminster  School.  A  small  house  with  wings,  at  the 
end  of  Savile  Row,  was  built  by  him  in  his  garden.  In  the 
country  we  have  the  villa  at  Chiswick,  slightly  altered,  and  much 
added  to,  but  still  in  such  a  condition  that  we  can  judge  of  its 
merits.  At  Bath,  a  house  in  the  Orange  Grove  is  attributed  to 
him  ;  but  I  cannot  recognise  his  touch  in  it.     At  York,  where  he 


The  Successors  of  Wren  '     229 

was  Lord  Lieutenant,  he  designed  the  beautiful  Assembly  Rooms. 
It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  we  should  not  be  able  to  distinguish 
his  designs  from  Inigo  Jones's  in  Kent's  volumes  if  they 
were  not  all  signed.  There  is  certainly  nothing  in  English 
architecture  more  quietly  beautiful  than  the  elevation  of  the 
Westminster  dormitory.  (It  is  plate  51  in  the  second  volume 
of  the  book  of  Inigo  Jones's  designs.)  Fifteen  arches  support 
the  upper  storey,  which  contains  a  single  chamber,  166  feet  long. 
The  whole  building  is  55  feet  high.  Above  the  arcade  is  a  row 
of  niches  for  statues,  and  above  that  again,  a  row  of  small  square 
window  apertures.  At  the  time  when  the  dormitory  was  built, 
the  site,  which  looked  on  the  College  Garden,  was  very  damp, 
hence  the  elevation  of  the  chamber  itself  on  arches.  Now  that 
the  ground  is  thoroughly  drained  and  dry,  the  arches  have  been 
built  up  and  further  school  accommodation  has  been  obtained  ; 
but  this  alteration  has  been  carefully  made  so  as  to  interfere 
little  with  the  effect. 

Campbell  ( Vitrtivius  Britannicus,  iii.  p.  2 1 )  takes  to  himself 
the  credit  of  having  designed  Burlington  House  ;  and  it  is  more 
than  likely  that  he  made  all  the  working  drawings.  It  is,  how- 
ever, equally  certain,  first,  that  he  never  was  at  Vicenza,  where 
is  the  building  by  Palladio  from  which  the  design  is  said  to 
have  been  taken  ;  and,  secondly,  that  no  recognised  building 
of  his — Wanstead,  or  Houghton,  or  Mereworth — is  good  enough 
to  be  by  the  same  designer  as  Burlington  House.  Burlington 
had  been  much  in  Italy,  and  had  seriously  studied  the  art  of 
Palladio.  The  Chiswick  villa  was  also  an  adaptation  after  the 
same  great  architect.  A  second  point  in  the  argument  against 
Campbell's  authorship  is,  that  his  claim  was  not  acknowledged 
at   the   time.     Walpole,  in   particular,  treats   it  with  contempt, 


230  Modern  ArcJiitechtre  in  England 

while  he  goes  into  raptures  over  the  colonnade.  In  the  next 
age,  Sir  William  Chambers,  the  best  possible  judge,  considered 
the  whole  composition  to  be  unrivalled,  and,  in  his  work  on 
Civil  Architecture,  makes  use  of  the  oft-quoted  phrase,  "  Behind 
an  old  brick  wall  in  Piccadilly  there  is,  notwithstanding  its 
faults,  one  of  the  finest  pieces  of  architecture  in  Europe."  It 
is  only  wearisome  to  go  on  quoting  what  Ralph,  Pope,  Gay, 
Malcolm,  and  Britton  say  in  praise  of  this  beautiful  building. 
It  is  better  worth  while  to  put  a  few  facts  relating  to  it  into 
chronological  order.  In  17 16,  Burlington,  not  yet  of  age,  met 
Kent  in  Italy.  He  had  already,  in  171 5,  been  appointed  Vice- 
admiral  of  York,  an  Irish  privy  councillor,  and  colonel  of  a 
militia  regiment.  In  the  following  year,  12th  January  17 16, 
he  was  made  Governor  of  the  County  of  Cork.  Four  months 
later,  he  was  appointed  Lord  Lieutenant  of  the  West  Riding 
and  City  of  York.  It  is  evident  that  at  twenty-one,  when  he 
returned  home  from  Italy,  full  of  what  he  had  seen  and  of  the 
friendship  he  had  already  formed  with  the  young  architect  he 
left  behind,  he  had  quite  enough  to  employ  his  mind  both  in 
public  and  in  private  business.  He,  Burlington,  doubtless  made 
careful  drawings  of  buildings  at  Vicenza ;  and,  as  soon  as  he 
could  secure  the  services  of  an  architect,  having  probably  no 
time  of  his  own  to  spare,  he  set  about  refronting  the  old  house 
in  Piccadilly  in  the  Italian  style.  He  must  have  begun  as 
early  as  1716,  for  that  date  with  his  arms  was  on  the  leadwork  ; 
but  Campbell  specially  dates  his  view  of  the  house  171 7,  and 
that  of  the  gate  171S.  Whether  after  this  time  Lord  Burlington 
had  further  dealings  with  Campbell  we  do  not  know.  Campbell 
was  in  some  way  mixed  up  in  the  intrigue  by  which  Wren  was 
ousted   from   office,  and  died  the  same  year  that    Kent  came 


Id 

o 


o 
a: 

a 
u 
z 


TJie  Successors  of  If  yen  233 

home,  1729.  Kent  was  welcomed  to  Burlington  House  by  his 
friend.  So  warm  was  this  welcome,  and  so  great  the  friendship 
of  the  pair,  that  Kent  never  left  Lord  Burlington  again,  but, 
having  lived  here  for  nineteen  years,  died  in  the  house  and  was 
buried  in  the  vault  of  the  Boyle  family  at  Chiswick  in  1748. 
Meanwhile,  the  two  published  the  great  book  upon  Inigo  Jones 
I  have  so  often  had  occasion  to  mention  ;  and  we  can  imagine 
with  what  pleasure  Kent  included  a  few  designs  by  his  friend 
and  host  with  those  of  the  great  architect.  Kent  did  not 
leave  very  much  mark  on  the  public  buildings  of  London. 
He  is  believed  to  have  added  to  Kensington  Palace.  A 
state  staircase  there  is  always  attributed  to  him,  and  he 
decorated  the  principal  apartments.  The  cupola  room,  if 
it  is  his  and  not  Wren's,  does  him  great  credit.  Even  in 
a  dismantled  state,  it  is  fine  and  rich.  The  doorways  and 
niches,  and  the  fireplace,  all  of  the  Ionic  order,  in  marble, 
produce  a  magnificent  effect.  Kent  is  certainly  responsible 
for  the  painting  of  the  staircase,  which  he  carried  out,  with 
figures  intended  to  enhance  the  appearance  of  size.  The 
Bat  ceiling  is  painted  to  represent  a  dome,  and  faces  peer 
down  through  the  skylight.  He  was  also  employed  at 
Hampton  Court  to  complete  some  of  the  work  Wren  had 
begun.  It  is  not  always  possible  to  distinguish  his  work,  but 
there  cannot  be  much  doubt  as  to  a  chimney-piece  in  the 
Queen's  Guard  Chamber,  which  is  supported  by  figures  of 
guards.  Holkham  Hall  is  usually  considered  Kent's  best 
domestic  work,  the  influence  of  Lord  Burlington's  greater  taste 
and  originality  being  very  plainly  marked  upon  it.  Sir  William 
Chambers,  however,  finds  fault  with  it.  In  the  north  front 
(which  is  represented  in  our  plate  from  the  Viirtivius  Britannicus, 
2  H 


234  Modern  AvcJiitccture  in  England 

V.  25),  there  are  no  less  than  seven  Venetian  windows,  "  which, 
added  to  the  quantity  of  trifling  breaks  and  ups  and  downs  in 
the  elevation,  keep  the  spectator's  eye  in  a  perpetual  dance  to 
discover  the  outlines,  than  which  nothing  can  be  more 
unpleasing  or  destructive  of  effect."  The  south  front  is  more 
satisfactory,  as  it  is  set  off  by  a  magnificent  hexastyle  portico 
of  the  Corinthian  order,  raised  on  a  rusticated  basement. 
Chambers  also  makes  some  disparaging  remarks  about  the 
Horse  Guards,  but  there  Kent  was  associated  with  Vardy  in 
the  design.  The  old  part  of  the  Treasury  buildings  was  erected 
in  1733  by  Kent,  part  of  a  much  larger  design,  never  completed. 
It  is  plain  but  perfectly  satisfactory  as  regards  proportion  and 
features. 

During  all  the  years  of  their  association  Kent  and  Lord 
Burlington  seem  to  have  very  seldom  worked  together,  and  to 
have  retained,  except  in  the  examples  I  have  named,  a  complete 
independence  of  style.  But  Burlington  House  was  designed 
and  finished  before  Kent  came  from  Italy. 

Mr.  Wheatley  and  others  say  it  was  designed  in  imitation 
of  the  palace  of  Count  Valerio  Chiericato  at  Vicenza. 
Burlington  did  make  a  design  after  this  palace  {Inigo 
Jones,  ii.  12),  but  it  was  never  used.  Ware,  in  his  Palladio, 
gives  two  engravings  of  the  Chiericato  palace.  Burlington 
House  did  not  in  any  way  resemble  them,  nor  did  it,  strictly 
speaking,  exactly  resemble  any  of  the  numerous  villas  at 
Vicenza,  which  Ware  has  engraved.  Part  of  the  house  of  Count 
Ottavio  de  Thieni  would  give  us  a  hint  of  the  general  motive  of 
the  design,  with  its  rusticated  lower  storey  and  the  columns 
above.  But  the  columns  are  of  the  Composite  order,  whereas 
Burlington's  are  Ionic.     The  following  is  a  technical  description 


1  tA-al/f     O^^  ^O  /^' 


HOUSE  DESIGNED  BY  LORD  BURLINGTON  FOR  GENERAL  WADE,  IN  BURLINGTON  STREET. 


TJie  Successors  of  JVroi  237 

taken  from  Britton  and  Pugin  :  The  south  front  is  in  three 
divisions  with  a  rusticated  basement ;  the  central,  with  six 
windows,  being  recessed  from  the  two  ends.  The  first  storey, 
or  principal  suite  of  apartments,  is  ornamented  with  six  columns 
in  the  middle  division,  and  four  pilasters  in  the  front  of  each 
end.  In  these  ends  we  find  the  Venetian  windows  have,  very 
judiciously,  been  raised  to  range  with  the  seven  other  windows. 
This  storey  is  crowned  with  an  appropriate  entablature  and 
balustrade. 

It  is  just  possible  at  Burlington  House,  as  we  now  see  it,  for 
the  judicious  visitor  to  make  out  a  glimpse  of  the  upper  storey. 
A  third  storey  has  been  added,  and  below  there  is  a  kind  of 
portico,  both  not  only  incongruous  but  thoroughly  bad  in  them- 
selves. The  unhappy  architects,  finding  they  had  wholly  failed 
to  hit  off  the  proportions  or  any  of  the  feeling  of  the  original, 
covered  the  wretchedness  of  their  design  with  a  wealth  of  orna- 
ment which  only  serves  to  enhance  its  deficiencies.  The  famous 
colonnade  has,  I  hear,  disappeared  ;  but  the  gate,  with  the  stones 
numbered,  lies  in  the  mud  at  the  western  entrance  of  Battersea 
Park,  where  it  forms  a  kind  of  gymnasium  or  playground  for 
swarms  of  children.  In  its  place  stands  a  new  entrance,  which, 
were  it  not  for  its  enormous  height,  might  escape  observation 
for  its  architectural  insignificance.  In  spite  of  a  lavish  use  of 
ornamental  carving,  it  may  fairly  claim  to  be,  within  two  at  the 
most,  the  ugliest  building  in  Piccadilly. 

The  York  assembly  rooms  have  been  added  to,  and  were  sub- 
jected some  years  ago  to  a  redecoration  by  Owen  Jones  ;  but  the 
following  notes,  taken  from  the  volume  in  the  Beauties  of  England 
and  Wales  on  Yorkshire,  tell  us  what  they  were  like  in  181 2  : 
"  The  magnificent  Assembly  Rooms,  erected  in  the  last  century, 


238  Modern  ArcJiitedtiye  in  England 

and  designed  by  the  Earl  of  Burlington,  are  an  honour  to  the 
city  and  to  the  architectural  taste  of  that  nobleman.  The  grand 
room  is  an  antique  Egyptian  hall  from  Palladio,  1 1 2  feet  in 
length,  40  feet  in  breadth,  and  40  in  height.  This  room  consists 
of  two  orders :  the  lower  part,  with  forty-four  columns  and 
capitals  and  a  beautiful  cornice,  displays  the  Corinthian  order ; 
the  upper  part  is  after  the  Composite,  richly  adorned  with  festoons 
resembling  oak  leaves  and  acorns,  with  a  superb  cornice, 
curiously  ornamented  with  carved  work."  There  are  smaller 
rooms  :  one  66  feet  long,  another  a  cube  of  21,  and  a  circular 
card  -  room.  The  front  had  a  semicircular  portico,  but  I 
fear  it  has  lately  been  removed,  or  "restored."  There  are 
several  views  and  a  plan  in  the  Vitriivius  Britanninis,  iv.  78. 

Of  Chiswick,  it  is  only  necessary  to  say  that  it  was  a  mere 
summer-house,  but  a  very  pretty  one.  Two  wings  had  to  be 
built  to  make  it  habitable.  The  original  design  closely  resembles 
that  of  the  villa  near  Vicenza  of  Monsignor  Almerico  (p.  1 3  in 
Ware),  which  was  designed  by  Palladio  ;  but  there  are  many  dif- 
ferences, and,  while  the  order  at  Vicenza  is  Ionic,  that  at  Chiswick 
is  Corinthian.  There  are  three  plates  representing  it  in  Kent's 
Inigo  Jones  (vol.  i.).  Walpole  set  the  idea  going  that  the  design 
was  from  that  of  the  Villa  Capra.  The  Villa  Capra  in  Ware's 
Palladio  is  wholly  different ;  but  a  circular  villa,  very  like  that 
to  which  he  gives  the  name  of  Almerico  is  still  at  Vicenza,  and 
has  "  Marius  Capra  Gabrielis  F  "  over  the  portico.  It  is  figured 
in  Schlitz  {Die  Renaissance  in  lialien,  Abtheilung  B.),  and 
resembles  both  Ware's  Almerico  villa  and  this  one  at  Chiswick. 
It  is  evident  that  there  is  either  some  confusion  here,  or  that 
Chiswick  is  wholly  original,  and  that  Horace  Walpole  was  not 
the  most  accurate  of  authors. 


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The  Successors  of  PVren  24 1 

We  have  so  little  of  Lord  Burlington's,  that  it  is  perhaps 
rash  to  praise  him  very  highly.  If  he  had  been  an  architect  in 
ordinary  practice  it  is  possible,  nay,  probable,  that  his  art  would 
not  have  maintained  itself  at  the  high  level  at  which  alone  we 
see  it.  Kirby  Hall  in  Yorkshire  {Vitruvius Britaiinicns,  v.  71), 
though  designed  by  Burlington,  was  carried  out  by  Morris,  one  of 
his  architectural  followers,  and  Harewood  (  Vitnivius  Britaniiiais, 
v.  25),  which  has  many  traces  of  his  hand  upon  it,  was  by  Carr. 
But  enough  remains  of  what  is  undoubtedly  his  to  justify  us  in 
ranking  Burlington  very  little  below  Inigo  Jones. 

It  would  be  easy  to  fill  up  the  rest  of  this  chapter  with  a 
criticism  of  the  works  of  the  succeeding  professors  of  Palladian 
architecture.  Taylor  was  the  eldest,  having  been  born  in  1714- 
He  had  a  large  practice,  but  left  little  that  calls  for  remark. 
He  designed  the  stone  building  in  Lincoln's  Inn,  and,  it  is  said, 
proposed  to  pull  down  all  the  other  buildings  and  lay  out  the 
whole  inn  afresh.  James  Paine  built  a  good  many  houses 
in  a  pleasing  style,  but  is  now  little  remembered.  Chambers 
is  chiefly  remembered  as  the  architect  of  Somerset  House, 
of  which  the  Strand  front  is  always  considered  a  transcript 
of  a  former  building  close  to  the  same  site  by  Inigo  Jones. 
It  is  probable,  to  judge  by  pictures  and  prints,  that 
Chambers  made  some  such  attempt  at  imitation.  But  if 
we  remember  that  Jones's  Somerset  House  faced  south,  that 
it  was  of  brick  with  stone  dressings,  and,  especially,  that  it 
was  much  smaller,  we  can  understand  that  no  such  attempt  could 
be  successful.  The  difference  of  size,  material,  and  aspect  would 
be  fatal  to  any  possibility  of  an  exact  copy.  The  front  is,  how- 
ever, though  unlike  Inigo,  undoubtedly  very  fine  ;  and  the  arched 
entrance  is  one  of  the  most  graceful  examples  of  the  kind  in 
2  I 


242  Modern  Anhitectitre  in  Eiiglana 

London.  The  western  side  in  Wellington  Street  is  also  good  ; 
but  it  is  impossible  not  to  agree  with  Fergusson  when  he  says 
that  the  south  front  was  Chambers's  great  opportunity,  and 
unfortunately  shows  "  how  little  he  was  equal  to  the  task  he  had 
undertaken."  His  happiest  efforts  were  on  a  much  smaller 
scale.  His  arbours,  and  alcoves,  and  summer-houses  in  Kew 
Gardens,  chiefly  designed  for  the  Princess  Dowager  of  Wales, 
are  one  and  all  extremely  pretty.  He  published  a  very 
charming  volume  about  them.  Not  far  off,  at  Roehampton, 
there  is  a  kind  of  temple  of  the  Composite  order  which  will  bear 
a  great  deal  of  examination.  It  and  the  villa  to  which  it 
belonged  were  designed  for  Lord  Bessborough.  The  villa 
was  lately  pulled  down.  He  built  in  London  Lord  Gower's 
house  in  Whitehall,  Lord  Melbourne's  house  in  Piccadilly,  and 
the  Albany.  He  was  born  at  Stockholm  in  1726,  and  after- 
wards went  to  China,  where  he  made  drawings  of  Chinese 
buildings,  having,  even  in  his  youth,  a  strong  taste  for 
architecture.  He  rose  in  this  art  to  the  highest  honours, 
was  the  first  Treasurer  of  the  Royal  Academy,  Surveyor- 
General  of  royal  buildings,  and  architectural  tutor  to  George 
III.,  who  is  said  to  have  himself,  no  doubt  with  his  teacher's 
help,  designed  a  house,  the  Ranger's  Lodge  in  the  Green 
Park,  now  pulled  down.  Chambers  practically  retired  from  the 
profession  some  time  before  his  death  in  1796.  Next  to  him,  in 
date,  comes  Robert  Adam,  born  in  1 728.  Adam  and  his  brothers 
obtained  a  great  reputation  for  a  knowledge  of  architecture  ;  and 
their  book  on  Spalatro  enhanced  it.  In  London,  their  most  con- 
spicuous building  gives  no  just  idea  of  their  powers.  The  Adelphi 
Terrace  served  for  many  years  as  a  foil  to  Somerset  House,  in 
which  capacity  it  has  now  been  superseded  by  two  or  three  new 


7. 

O 


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TJie  Successors  of  Wren  245 

blocks  of  surpassing  ugliness.  Lansdowne  House  is  very  tame. 
But  Adam  did  better  things,  as  for  instance  two  sides  of  Fitzroy 
Square.  Kedleston  Hall  in  Derbyshire  has  many  merits  ;  the 
design,  and  especially  the  singular  arrangement  of  the  plan,  with 
its  four  wings,  being  an  adaptation  from  Palladio.  (Ware's /'^Z- 
ladio,  B.  ii.  58.)  There  are  several  views  of  Kedleston  in  the 
fourth  volume  of  Viiriivius  Britanniciis. 

In  London,  the  taste  of  the  next  generation  was  wholly  taken 
up  with  what  was  supposed  to  be  Grecian.  This  name  was 
gradually  applied  to  everything  that  was  not  Gothic.  One 
writer  calls  the  towers  of  Westminster  Abbey  "  Grecian."  In  a 
modified  degree,  some  of  Soane's  work  may  be  called  Grecian  ; 
but  the  beautiful  adaptation  of  a  temple  at  Tivoli,  which  he  placed 
at  the  north-west  corner  of  the  Bank  of  England,  is  purely  Roman. 
The  greater  part  of  the  bank  was  built  by  Sir  Robert  Taylor 
before  1788,  but  Soane  remodelled  the  whole.  The  exterior, 
with  the  exception  of  the  corner  just  mentioned,  is  studiously 
plain,  though  handsome.  The  courts  are  more  ornamental,  one 
of  them,  by  the  way,  having  been  formerly  the  churchyard  of 
St.  Christopher.  This  one  is  by  Taylor,  but  the  beautiful 
"  Lothbury  Court "  is  by  Soane.  Leeds  describes  it  as  highly 
picturesque,  which  it  certainly  is,  and  adds  "it  is  not  easy  to 
conceive  a  more  beautiful  composition."  Technically  he  thus 
describes  it  : — "  On  either  side  is  a  flight  of  steps,  the  entire 
width  of  the  court,  on  which  rest  two  beautiful  colonnades  of 
four  Corinthian  columns,  with  antae  and  entablature  ;  that  on  the 
right  hand  forms  an  open  screen  to  a  raised  part  of  the  court, 
and  that  on  the  left  a  loggia,  the  centre  part  of  which  is  a  large 
semicircular  recess,  extending  the  width  of  three  intercolumns." 
By  some  chance,    not  easily  accounted   for,   Soane,   forgetting 


246  Modem  ArcJiifecture  in  England 

what  he  had  learned  in  Italy,  took  to  designing  in  an  anomalous 
style,  and  his  law  courts  at  Westminster,  which  have  now 
disappeared,  were  as  j^Iain  and  uninteresting  as  anything  in 
London. 

Meanwhile,  true  Palladian  was  flourishing  elsewhere.  At 
Bath,  where  excellent  building  stone  was  to  be  had  easily,  the 
two  Woods,  father  and  son,  and  Baldwin  the  city  architect 
were  at  work.  Queen's  Square,  built  in  1729,  I  have  already 
mentioned.  It  is  remarkable  as  apparently  the  first  example  of 
a  design  which  grouped  a  row  of  separate  dwelling-houses  into 
one  composition.  The  same  idea  was  in  Adam's  mind  in 
building  Fitzroy  Square  ;  but  Queen's  Square  was  built  when 
he  was  only  a  year  old.  At  Bath,  the  Woods  carried  it  much 
further  ;  in  Great  Pulteney  Street,  perhaps,  too  far.  But  no  one 
can  help  admiring  the  Circus,  which  groups  together  thirty 
handsome  residences,  with  a  spacious  enclosure  of  grass  and 
trees  before  them.  The  houses  are  built  with  columns  engaged 
and  coupled,  in  three  storeys.  The  lowest  is  of  Tuscan  Doric, 
Wren's  favourite  order.  The  entablature  is  carved  with 
emblems,  apparently  from  one  of  the  emblem  books  which  were 
so  common  two  hundred  years  ago.  The  series  is  continued, 
without  repetitions,  round  all  the  houses.  The  columns  of  the 
next  storey  are  Ionic,  beautifully  carved,  but  they  have  suffered 
much  from  weather  and  age.  At  the  top  the  order  is  Corinthian. 
The  whole  arrangement  resembles  the  cloister  of  St.  Giustina  at 
Padua  by  Palladio,  but  is  thus  summed  up  in  one  of  the  local 
guide-books:  it  "is  a  fine  circle  of  houses,  divided  into  three 
blocks,  which  consist  of  three  stages,  each  built  in  a  differ-ent 
style  of  architectui'e." 

The  Royal  Crescent  faces  south  and  has  a  beautiful  view  of 


The  Successors  of  U  'rcii  249 

the  park,  lower  down  the  hill.  When  the  Crescent  was  built  the 
site  of  the  park  was  a  common.  It  was  designed  by  the  younger 
Wood,  and  like  the  Circus  consists  of  thirty  houses.  A  solid 
basement  sustains  a  series  of  Ionic  engaged  columns,  those  at 
the  ends  and  in  the  centre  being  coupled,  the  rest  single.  The 
effect  is  good,  but  owes  a  great  deal  to  the  situation.  In  any 
case,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  neither  the  Adelphi  nor 
Somerset  House  has  anything  like  the  same  stately  effect. 

Prior  Park,  a  little  way  to  the  southward  of  Bath,  is  another 
example  of  Wood's  skill.  There  are  many  houses  close  by  in 
the  same  style,  at  Widcombe,  for  instance,  at  Corsham,  and,  in 
short,  wherever  the  famous  Bath  oolite  can  be  quarried.  But 
Prior  Park  is  both  the  most  imposing  and  also  the  most  pleas- 
ing. It  labours  under  one  serious  disadvantage,  in  facing  to 
the  north,  and  a  little  neglect  covers  the  noble  flight  of  steps 
with  green  mould.  The  house,  which  stands  on  a  lofty  slope 
about  400  feet  above  Bath,  consists  of  a  centre  and  wings,  to- 
gether with  outlying  offices  which  are  connected  with  the  main 
building  by  low  walls.  The  present  owners  have  made  some 
alterations  in  these  arrangements.  The  portico  is  very  fine,  of 
the  Corinthian  order,  with  six  columns  in  front,  and  two  inter- 
columniations  at  the  sides.  The  flight  of  steps  is  not  by  Wood, 
having  been  added  later,  but  is  a  very  handsome  and  appropriate 
feature.  The  house  was  built  for  Ralph  Allen,  whose  name  so 
often  occurs  in  the  memoirs  of  Pope.  Fielding,  and  other  great 
men  of  the  day,  and  was  commissioned  with  a  view  of  attracting 
attention  to  the  advantages  of  Bath  stone  as  a  building  material. 
A  pretty  Ionic  bridge  in  the  grounds  is  copied,  perhaps  too 
literally,  from  one  at  Wilton,  attributed  to  Inigo  Jones. 

After  the  Woods,  at  Bath,  came  Baldwin,  who  designed  the 

2   K 


250  Modern  Architecture  in  Eiiglatid 

Pump  Room,  which  is  not  very  good,  and  the  Guildhall,  built  in 
1775,  which  is  admirable,  but  somewhat  marred  by  additions  in 
an  anomalous  style.  These  additions  are,  I  believe,  condemned, 
but  whether  they  will  be  replaced  by  anything  better  time  alone 
can  show.     Architectural  taste  has  died  out  in  Bath. 

There  was  a  partial  revival  of  the  purest  Palladian  in  London 
about  fifty  years  ago,  by  Barry.  The  only  fault  of  his  Reform 
and  Travellers'  Clubs  in  Pall  Mall  is,  that  they  resemble  too 
closely  the  Italian  buildings  from  which,  professedly,  they  are 
imitated.  The  Reform  Club,  finished  in  1840,  is  an  exact  tran- 
script of  part  of  the  Farnese  Palace  at  Rome,  with  the  result 
that  the  windows,  intended  for  the  sunny  Italian  climate,  look 
too  small  and  dark  in  Pall  Mall.  We  also  miss  the  beautiful 
arcaded  "  loggia  "  of  the  original.  On  the  other  hand,  Barry's 
proportions  are  admirable,  and  he  was  not  content  to  take  a 
portion  of  the  great  Roman  house  without  modifying  the 
dimensions  in  a  similar  ratio.  In  short  the  design,  as  adapted, 
is  one  of  the  most  perfect  examples  in  London,  depending,  as  it 
does,  not  on  ornament  but  on  proportion  for  its  effect.  The 
Travellers'  has  been  disguised  in  stucco  and  painted,  the  effect 
being  ruined.  It  was  an  adaptation  from  the  Pandolfini  Palace 
at  Florence,  which  is  often  attributed  to  Raphael.  The  critics 
were  wild  with  delight  when  this  house  was  first  built.  After 
the  ill-treatment  it  has  received,  we  might  pass  it  by  daily 
without  remarking  its  merits,  which  are  undoubtedly  very 
great.  It  is  a  question  whether  the  south  front  is  not  the 
better  of  the  two.  In  it  the  lower  storey  is  rusticated  and  the 
upper  windows  have  balconies.  The  cornices  on  both  fronts 
are  bold,  and  were  delicately  ornamented,  but  the  stucco  spoils 
all.     There  is  no  balustrade.      Barry  was  so  pleased  with  this 


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The  Successors  of  J  J  Irii  253 

little  building  that  he  published  a  volume  about  it,  with  views 
and  drawings  by  Hewett.  Bridgewater  House,  also  by  Barry, 
is  much  less  ornate  than  the  clubs,  but  on  the  whole  it  is 
greatly  to  be  admired,  and  shows  well  beside  Spencer 
House  in  the  Green  Park.  It  seems  a  pity  that  Barry's  later 
years  were  taken  up  with  a  building  in  a  style  which  he 
did  not  understand ;  but  the  palace  of  Westminster  attests 
nevertheless  the  greatness  of  his  powers,  even  if  it  makes  us 
regret  the  more  the  purpose  to  which  they  were  put.  It  has 
often  been  remarked  that  w^e  employed  our  most  eminent 
Palladian  to  build  in  Gothic,  and  next  employed  our  greatest 
Gothic  architect  to  build  in  Palladian  ;  but  the  Foreign  Office  in 
Whitehall,  a  grotesque  structure,  shows  us  that  Scott  had  none 
of  the  adaptability  or  versatility  of  Barry.  A  fine  club  in  Pall 
Mall— the  Army  and  Navy — is  by  Parnell  and  Smith,  and  is 
copied  from  another  design  of  Sansovino,  the  Cornaro  Palace  at 
Venice.  Both  it  and  the  Carlton,  by  Smirke,  in  imitation  of 
Sansovino's  Library,  would  look  better  without  balustrades, 
which  go  far  to  spoil  the  beautiful  cornices.  Very  few  other 
buildings  in  this  style  worthy  of  notice  have  been  erected  in 
London  since  the  time  of  Barry.  I  do  not  wish  here  to  speak 
of  contemporary  architecture  more  than  is  absolutely  necessary, 
and  need  not  therefore  repeat  my  opinion  ot  the  recent 
buildings  in  the  City  or  in  some  of  the  west  end  streets. 
Costly  materials,  it  is  proved  over  and  over  again,  will  not 
make  handsome  buildino^s  unless  the  architect  knows  his 
art.  In  the  provinces  things  have,  on  the  whole,  been  better. 
St.  George's  Hall  set  a  fashion  in  Liverpool  which  has  been 
followed  in  the  public  library  and  the  picture  gallery  near 
it,    as   well    as    in    some    institutions   of  less  note.     The  style 


254  Modern  Architecture  in  England 

flourished  for  a  time  at  Newcastle,  where  Dobson  designed  the 
admirable  railway  station  and  several  streets  of  remarkable 
beauty  and  stateliness.  Manchester  has  been  unlucky  ;  and 
except  the  cathedral  and  the  exchange,  contains  nothing  one 
would  willingly  look  at  twice.  The  Town  Hall  must  be 
characterised  as  frightful,  and  the  Law  Courts  are  only  a  shade 
better.  Edinburgh  never  greatly  affected  Palladian,  though  it 
contains  some  good  examples  of  the  genius  of  Adam ;  and 
Glasgow,  though  it  has  produced  some  good  architects,  has  let 
them  practise  elsewhere.  One  of  the  most  original  and  brilliant 
professors  of  the  Grecian  style  was  Thomson,  of  Glasgow,  but 
very  few  of  his  works  are  extant.  Belfast  also  is  wanting  in 
good  architecture  ;  but  before  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century 
Palladian  art  already  flourished  where  we  should  hardly  have 
expected  to  find  it.  Dublin  took  up  the  tradition  let  drop  by 
Bath.  A  hundred  years  have  elapsed,  and  we  have  pleasing 
evidence  that  it  flourishes  there  still.  The  charming  group  of 
new  buildings  in  Kildare  Street  would  be  more  encouraging 
if  we  had  not  to  contrast  it  with  the  public  buildings  of  the  same 
time  and  kind  in  London,  and  especially  at  South  Kensington. 
The  earliest  and  certainly  the  best  known  Palladian  building  in 
Dublin  is  the  Bank  of  Ireland,  originally  erected  for  the  Irish 
Parliament.  The  architect  seems  to  have  been  Sir  Edward 
Lovet  Pearce,  the  Surveyor-General,  and  he  deserves  credit  for 
a  piece  of  originality  not  to  be  matched  in  the  three  Kingdoms. 
The  plan  is  oval,  or  nearly  so,  the  wall  being  plain  and  without 
openings  except  on  the  southern  face.  There  is  no  basement, 
but  a  row  of  engaged  Ionic  pillars  rises  directly  from  a  low 
plinth.  The  southern  face  is  very  curious.  A  rectangular 
opening  discloses  a  kind  of  courtyard,  round  which  the  order  is 


o 

a! 


The  Successors  of  IVren  257 

continued  by  an  open  colonnade,  a  handsome  portico  and  pedi- 
ment terminating  the  view.  Two  smaller  pediments,  with 
archways,  are  at  the  entrance  to  each  colonnade.  The  writer 
of  Murray's  Handbook  thus  describes  this  part  of  the  building  ; — 
"  It  consists  of  a  magnificent  Ionic  front  and  colonnades,  the 
centre  occupying  three  sides  of  a  receding  square.  The  principal 
porch  is  svhpported  by  four  Ionic  pillars,  and  is  surmounted  by 
a  pediment  with  the  royal  arms  and  a  statue  of  Hibernia,  with 
Fidelity  and  Commerce  on  each  side,  the  last  two  having  been 
modelled  by  Flaxman.  The  open  colonnade  extends  round  the 
square  to  the  wings  and  is  flanked  on  each  side  by  a  lofty  entrance 
arch."  It  appears  that  this  grand  colonnade  and  entrance  front 
was  the  first  portion  erected.  A  second  portico  is  on  the  eastern 
side,  and  was  built  by  James  Gandon,  one  of  the  editors  of  the 
fourth  and  fifth  volumes  of  the  ]'itniviits  Britanniciis.  It  looks 
strange,  for  it  is  of  the  Corinthian  order,  as  desired  by  the  Lords,  to 
whose  chamber  it  gave  access.  Gandon  is  said  to  have  described 
it  contemptuously  as  "  the  order  of  the  House  of  Lords."  It  has 
by  no  means  a  bad  effect,  being  another  example  of  the  axiom 
that  incongruous  objects,  if  they  are  good  equally,  tend  to 
picturesqueness.  Gandon  carried  out  the  "order"  in  1785,  and 
two  years  later  Parke  built  a  handsome  Ionic  portico  for  the 
House  of  Commons  at  the  western  side.  Gandon  completed 
another  important  design  in  Dublin.  This  was  the  Four  Courts, 
commenced  in  1776  by  Cooley,  who  had  designed  the  Dublin 
Royal  Exchange.  Cooley  died  when  he  had  only  begun  the 
work,  and  Gandon  finished  it  in  1800.  It  is  undoubtedly  a  very 
fine  edifice,  and  like  the  Bank  shows  great  originality  of  plan. 
An  experiment  has  been  tried  at  Melbourne  in  Australia  by 
which  a  similar  dome  and  portico  are  placed  on  a  conspicuous 

2   L 


258  Modern  ArcJiitccturc  in  England 

hill,  and  we  can  judge  how  much  the  Dublin  courts  lose  by  their 
situation  in  a  hollow,  close  to  the  river,  which  is  here  only  a 
noisome  sewer.  The  plan  is  described  by  Dr.  Walsh,  the 
author  of  a  History  of  Dublin,  as  one  which  may  be  "distinctly 
delineated  in  the  imagination  by  figuring  a  circle  of  64  feet 
diameter,  inscribed  in  the  centre  of  a  square  of  140  feet,  with 
the  Four  Courts  radiating  from  the  circle  to  the  angles  of  the 
square."  The  columns  round  the  hall  are  of  the  Corinthian 
order,  and  so  also  are  the  columns  on  the  exterior  supporting 
the  low  dome,  and  those  of  the  portico. 

A  little  farther  down  the  same  quay  is  one  of  the  largest  and 
most  costly  of  the  Palladian  buildings  of  Dublin.  The  Custom- 
House  was  designed  by  Gandon,  and,  as  it  stands  by  itself,  has 
four  fronts,  of  which  that  to  the  south  is  the  best.  It  has  a  fine 
Doric  portico,  on  either  side  of  which  is  a  lofty  arcade  occupying 
the  basement.  From  the  centre  of  the  building,  which  is  375 
feet  long  by  205  in  depth,  rises  a  cupola,  evidently  constructed 
in  imitation  of  the  two  which  Wren  placed  over  the  chapel  and 
hall  at  Greenwich,  and  rising  to  a  height  of  1 13  feet. 

Trinity  College  is  another  extremely  satisfactory  building. 
The  front  to  College  Green  is  plain  but  in  good  proportion. 
Adjoining  the  front  to  the  south  is  the  Provost's  house,  designed 
after  Burlington's  house  for  Marshal  Wade.  The  first  college 
quadrangle,  with  the  Examination  Hall  and  the  Chapel,  has  an 
irregular  but  most  satisfactory  effect.  The  design  was  sent  over 
by  Chambers,  and  was  carried  out  by  Mayers.  The  Chapel  is 
by  Cassels.  On  the  south  side  is  the  Library,  formerly  a 
magnificent  example  of  the  style.  Some  forty  years  ago  fears 
were  expressed  as  to  the  stability  of  the  flat  roof,  over  200 
feet  long,  and  a  stupid  expedient  was  adopted  for  supporting  it, 


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The  Successors  of  IV yen  261 

by  which  the  beauty  of  the  whole  building  is  marred.  There 
used  to  be  a  long  arcade  below,  as  a  cloister,  but  the  arches  are 
now  filled.  The  Library  was  greatly  altered  and  a  new  roof 
made  in  i860.  In  the  centre  of  the  quadrangle  is  a  very 
graceful  campanile,  by  Lanyon,  built  in  1854,  as  if  to  show  that 
the  Palladian  tradition  survived  till  then.  It  survives  still,  as  I 
have  remarked,  and  unquestionably  the  best  contemporary 
example  in  the  three  Kingdoms  is  the  new  museum  building  in 
Kildare  Street.  Some  people  perhaps  may  assert  that  the  best 
contemporary  examples  are  to  be  sought  for  at  the  Antipodes. 
Certainly  we  have  nothing  in  London  to  compare  with  the 
Post-Ofifice  at  Melbourne,  designed  it  is  said  by  an  amateur.  It 
follows  closely  the  motives  of  Inigo  Jones  in  his  Whitehall 
drawings,  and  if  it  was  better  situated,  for  it  is  in  the  bottom  of 
a  valley,  would  deserve  and  obtain  a  world-wide  reputation. 

It  is  necessary,  in  conclusion,  to  make  some  allusion  to  the 
style  which  succeeded  or  superseded  that  of  Chambers  and 
Gandon  and  Barry.  Gandon  and  Chambers  flourished  before, 
and  Barry  after,  the  issue  of  Stuart  and  Revett's  great  work  on 
the  architectural  remains  of  Greece,  and,  in  particular,  of  Athens. 
"  Athenian  "  Stuart,  as  he  was  called,  must  be  regarded  as  the 
originator  of  a  taste  for  Grecian  architecture.  He  did  not 
succeed  with  it  himself,  nor  did  the  taste  for  it  last.  The 
picturesqueness  of  which  Thomson  of  Glasgow  has  shown  it 
was  capable  was  wholly  missed,  and  some  designs  of  Hardwick, 
for  the  railway  station  at  Euston  Square,  are  almost  the  only 
good  work  of  the  kind  which  was  produced  in  London.  Hard- 
wick was  also,  it  may  be  remembered,  the  designer  of  one  of  the 
very  few  good  Gothic  buildings  of  the  revival,  a  library  at 
Lincoln's    Inn,   the  beauty  of  which  was  after  his  day  much 


262  Modern  Architecture  in  E/ii^tamt 


<b' 


marred  by  some  additions  in  a  style  precisely  similar,  but  without 
the  proportion  which  in  Hardwick's  mind  was  essential  to  good 
architecture  whether  Greek  or  Gothic.  St.  Pancras  Church 
became  a  warning— a  sign-post :  "  No  thoroughfare  this  way." 
The  architects — the  Inwoods,  father  and  son — had  imbibed  to 
the  full  the  pernicious  doctrine  that  absolute  symmetry  was 
necessary,  especially  in  a  public  building.  The  details  of  the 
design  are  Ionic,  and  the  whole  church,  which  was  finished  in 
1 82 2,  was  supposed  to  be  a  composition  from  the  Erechtheum 
and  the  Tower  of  the  Winds  at  Athens.  Like  the  Erechtheum, 
it  has  a  hexastyle  portico.  Exactly  matching  at  each  side  are 
the  lateral  Caryatid  porticoes.  In  the  original,  I  may  say,  in 
accordance  with  the  strictest  Greek  taste,  the  two  porticoes  are 
different :  a  charming  feature  in  itself.  Here,  at  St.  Pancras, 
the  design  of  one  side  is  exactly  repeated  at  the  other.  "  Four 
statues  of  females  of  colossal  size  stand  on  a  continued  plinth,  in 
the  middle  of  which  are  folding  doors  of  iron,  closing  the 
entrances  to  the  vaults  or  catacombs  beneath  the  church."  The 
result  is  tame  to  the  last  degree.  So  afraid  were  the  architects 
of  admitting  the  slightest  trace  of  freedom,  that  each  of  the 
Caryatides  has  a  water-jug  in  one  hand  and  an  inverted  torch  in 
the  other.  They  are  not  even  carved  in  marble  or  stone,  but 
are  cast  in  terra-cotta.  In  addition  to  the  deplorable  effect  thus 
produced,  the  tower  was  designed  and  arranged  so  as  to  spoil 
the  one  good  feature,  namely  the  portico.  It  rises  to  a  height 
of  157  feet,  and  is  constructed  of  a  series  of  temples  piled  one  on 
the  top  of  the  other,  each  octagonal  and  peripteral,  and  generally 
modelled  after  the  Tower  of  the  Winds.  On  the  top  of  all  "  in 
lieu  of  the  Triton  and  wand  in  the  original,  the  symbolical 
representation  of  the  wind,  which  terminated  the  composition,  a 


SECTION,  CHI.^WICK.      r.V  LUKLINGTON. 


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The  Successors  of  Wren  267 

cross,  the  great  emblem  of  Christian  worship,  is  placed."  Not 
only  is  this  ridiculous  tower  very  ugly  in  itself,  the  proportions 
of  any  one  storey  of  it  by  no  means  setting  off  the  proportions  of 
the  next,  but  it  is  put  right  in  the  middle  of  the  portico,  which 
is  completely  crushed  by  it  in  every  possible  view.  A  church 
at  Glasgow,  by  the  late  "Grecian  Thomson,"  shows  how  such 
a  feature  as  a  tower  can  be  managed  in  this  style,  and  also 
where  it  should  be  placed.  St.  Pancras  shows  us  how  it  can- 
not be  managed  and  where  it  should  not  be  placed.  So  careful 
were  the  Inwoods  of  the  details  that  one  of  them  proceeded  to 
Athens  and  obtained  leave  to  make  casts  of  parts  of  the 
Erechtheum,  and,  perceiving  that  some  of  the  columns  had 
been  made  of  the  green  marble  called  verd  antique,  he  had 
them  imitated  in  scagliola,  that  is,  stucco,  in  the  new  church. 
At  first  the  new  design  was  seriously  praised.  Anything  that 
professed  to  be  and  apparently  was  pure  Grecian,  exactly  and 
accurately  copied  in  every  part  from  the  best  originals,  must  be 
good,  and  not  only  was  St.  Pancras  admired  by  the  professional 
critics,  but  even  by  some  people  of  taste.  But  the  hour  of 
triumph  was  very  transient.  It  was  soon  recognised  that  the 
best  details  will  not  make  up  a  good  building,  unless  there  is  a 
great  deal  besides  in  it.  There  could  be  no  question  that  St. 
Pancras  church  was,  from  every  point  of  view,  a  failure, — 
almost  a  ludicrous  failure.  A  fresh  attempt  was  nevertheless 
made  by  Smirke  at  the  British  Museum.  "  Nothing,"  says 
Fergusson,  "  can  well  be  more  absurd  than  forty-four  useless 
columns,  following  the  sinuosities  of  a  modern  facade,  and 
finishing  round  the  corner."  There  is  a  somewhat  better 
portico  at  the  Fitzwilliam  Museum  at  Cambridge,  by  Basevi  ; 
but  it  is  better  because  there  is  no  make-believe,  and  because  it 


268  Modem  AnJiitccturc  in  Biiglaiid 

is  only  one  feature  of  a  building  and  not  the  building  itself.  St. 
George's  Hall,  at  Liverpool,  is  the  most  successful  example  of 
this  school,  and  it  is  not  so  much  Grecian  as  Roman.  It  is  by 
Elmes,  and  is  an  adaptation  of  one  of  the  Thernice  of  imperial 
Rome.  "The  principal  facade,"  says  Fergusson,  "is  orna- 
mented by  a  portico  of  sixteen  Corinthian  columns,  each  46 
feet  in  height,  beyond  which  on  each  side  is  a  '  crypto-porticus ' 
of  five  square  pillars,  filled  up  to  one-third  of  their  height  by 
screens,  the  whole  being  of  the  purest  and  most  exquisite 
Grecian,  rather  than  Roman  detail."  The  south  front  has  a 
handsome  octastyle  portico.  The  north  front  has  an  apse,  and 
the  west  is  studiously  plain,  but  with  Grecian  mouldings  and 
other  suitable  features.  It  will  be  seen  that  Elmes  did  not 
share  the  Inwoods'  opinions  on  symmetry,  and  this  one  building 
would  be  sufficient  to  show  of  how  little  value  it  is  to  the 
architect  who  knows  what  he  is  about.  Before  St.  George's 
Hall  was  completed,  in  1854,  Grecian  architecture  may  be  said 
to  have  died  out  in  England.  The  church  of  St.  Pancras 
inflicted  a  heavy  blow  upon  it.  The  facade  of  the  British 
Museum  is  a  little  better,  but  it  is  impossible  not  to  agree 
with  Weale  when  he  wrote  in  1853,  "The  imitations  of 
the  most  sublimely  beautiful  productions  human  art  has 
ever  achieved,  or  is  likely  to  achieve,  are  now  shunned  by  all 
for  their  intense  ugliness."  The  fact  is,  we  had  the  style 
and  we  had  the  demand,  but,  and  this  is  after  all  the  important 
thing,  we  had  not  an  artist  to  answer  to  the  call.  True,  as  I 
have  already  remarked,  an  architect  in  Grecian  of  great  power, 
named  Thomson,  showed  in  some  admirably  -  proportioned 
designs  what  might  have  been  done,  but  very  few  of  his  learned 
and  delicate  designs  were  carried  out  before  his  death,  some  five- 


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The  Successors  of  Wren  273 

and-twenty  years  ago.  He  seems  to  have  cared  less  for  sym- 
metry than  for  proportion,  and  was  particularly  noted  for  his 
manaoement  of  blank  walls.  But  in  London  it  was  not  alto- 
o-ether  the  want  of  a  man.  Decimus  Burton,  who  designed  the 
screen  at  Hyde  Park  Corner,  was  very  fair.  His  second 
desio-n  for  a  corresponding  screen  to  be  placed  at  the  end  of 
Constitution  Hill  is  even  more  beautiful,  but  was  never  carried 
out,  although  it  would  have  been  in  every  way  preferable  to  the 
present  stupid  arrangement.  The  arch,  recently  removed  and 
rebuilt,  in  a  wholly  unsuitable  situation,  on  a  slope,  standing 
cornerwise  to  the  roadway,  was  also  his,  and  though  good,  is 
somewhat  heavy.  There  are  also  several  of  his  designs  in 
Public  Buildings  of  London,  such  as  "  Mr.  Greenough's  Villa," 
the  Colosseum,  terraces  in  Regent's  Park,  and  so  on  ;  but  all 
were  executed  in  stucco  and  look  well  only  on  paper.  He 
acted  as  architect  to  Kew  Gardens,  where  he  was  very  suc- 
cessful with  the  great  palm-house.  Nash,  also,  had  ideas.  We 
see  his  work  in  Regent  Street ;  but  his  genius,  if  he  had  any, 
was  smothered  in  lath  and  plaster.  He  was  much  more 
Palladian  than  Greek  ;  but  if  his  masterly  Quadrant  had  been 
carried  out  in  stone,  it  would  have  equalled  anything  of  its  kind 
in  Europe.  Robert  Abraham  built  the  County  Fire  Office  in 
Regent  Street,  an  adaptation  from  Inigo  Jones.  Many  of  the 
buildings  in  this  neighbourhood  as  far  up  as  the  Regent's  Park 
are  very  Grecian  in  design ;  but  what  killed  Grecian  as  a 
modern  and  feasible  style  was  stucco.  If  we  open  any  archi- 
tectural book  of  1825  or  about  that  time,  we  read  of  grand 
buildings  in  Pall  Mall,  Regent  Street,  and  Regent's  Park.  In 
Shepherd's  London  in  the  Nineteenth  Centtiry  they  are  seriously 
described  and  favourably  criticised  by  Elmes  ;  while  the  views, 

2   N 


2/4  Modern  AycJiitcctnre  in  England 

especially  of    Regent    Street    and    of  Cumberland    Place,  are, 
literally,  most  imposing,  that  is,  if  you  do  not  examine  them  too 
closely  :   for  all   these  gorgeous  palaces  fail  in  the  details — as 
indeed  they  must.     They  are  not  real.     They  stand  to  architec- 
ture as  scene-painting  stands  to  landscape.     They  are  contrived 
to  produce  an  effect,  and  they  produce  it  until  you  come  near 
enough  to  see  that  they  are  constructed  throughout  of  Portland 
cement  and  the  like,  and  that  the  capitals  and  mouldings  are 
cast.     Yet,  on  paper,  in  views  like  Shepherd's  and  descriptions 
like  Elmes's,  they  appear  splendid.      I  remember  seeing  in  a  local 
guide-book — it  was   in  Australia — an  account  of  a  Wesleyan 
church  in  a  town  not  too  far  off  for  a  visit  by  rail.     The  build- 
ing was  described  as  being  "  in  the  Grecian   Doric  style.  .   .   . 
The  entablature  is  divided  into  architrave,  frieze,  and  entablature 
cornice,  the  frieze  being  enriched  with  triglyphs  and  drops,  the 
former  capped.      Under  the  corona  of  the  cornice  is  a  handsome 
modillion  band,  with  mutuals  central  with  each  pilaster.     The 
centre  portion  of  the  building,  by  projecting  pilasters  about  a 
foot,  enables  a  feature  to  be  made  in  the  front — the  balustrade 
terminating  with    a    pediment.     The    use    of  smaller   pilasters 
centrally  situated,  with  cornices  and  pediment,  secures  a  porch 
showing  prominently,  and  an  arched  recess  over  gives  a  tone 
generally  to  the  projecting  portion."     There  was  a  great  deal 
more  and  a  similarly  florid  account  of  the  interior.      I  naturally 
journeyed  off  to  see  this  remarkable  example  of  colonial  taste.      I 
found  an  ordinary  little  Dissenters'  meeting-house,  of  stucco, 
painted  drab.      I  did  not  look  at  it  twice,  but  had  time  to  recog- 
nise that  the  description  was  perfectly  correct. 

This  kind  of  thing,  I  am  sure,  this  elevation  of  the  make- 
believe   to  an    equality  with   the   real,    helped    largely   to    ruin 


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CHURCH    AT  GLASGOW.      BY   THOMSON. 


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The  Successors  of  II yen  i^c) 

the  practice  of  Grecian,  and  to  prepare  the  minds  of  people 
of  taste  to  expect  great  results  from  the  Gothic  revival.  There 
was  in  future  a  sweet  simplicity  in  classification.  Gothic,  of 
course,  was  Gothic.  But  Grecian  described  everything  that 
was  not  Gothic  —  Regent  Street  first,  and  after  it  Whitehall 
and  St.  Paul's  and  Burlington  House.  No  invidious  distinc- 
tions were  made.  All  were  classed  in  the  same  category. 
They  were  not  Gothic. 

After  many  years,  however,  and  much  eloquent  writing  and 
elaborate  designing,  people  are  beginning  to  discover  that  there 
is  a  style  that  is  neither  Grecian  nor  Gothic,  a  style,  too,  which, 
unlike  either,  encourages  a  designer  to  be  original,  and  desires 
him  to  go  forward,  and  not  backward,  and  which,  though  it  is 
by  no  means  new,  does  not  prohibit  novelty.  The  Palladian 
style  is  about  400  years  old,  yet  its  admirers  are  not  obliged  to 
build  after  a  400-years-old  pattern.  They  are  able  to  use  the 
building  appliances  of  the  day.  Without  any  falsification  or 
make-believe  they  can  employ  every  new  invention  for  heating 
and  lighting,  for  ventilation  and  sanitation.  The  style  often  in 
this  country  called  "  Queen  Anne  "  is  included  in  it,  and  there 
are  other  names  :  but  Inigo,  Wren,  and  Burlington  were,  and 
acknowledged  themselves  to  be,  under  the  influence  of  Palladio 
rather  than  of  Bramante  or  Vignola,  or  Sansovino,  or  San 
Gallo,  or  any  other  great  Italian  of  that  time. 

The  great  drawback  to  the  use  of  this  style  at  the  present 
day  lies  in  the  necessity  for  careful  proportion.  It  comes  into 
competition,  not  with  Grecian,  as  it  was  understood  when 
George  IV.  was  king,  nor  yet  with  Gothic  as  practised  by 
Scott  and  Street,  neither  of  whom  seemed  to  have  known  what 
proportion  meant,  but  with  the  new  wilfully  ignorant  school,  the 


28o  Modern  ArcJiitedtire  iu  England 

"know  nothings"  of  English  architecture;  and  so,  in  the 
closing  words  of  this  chapter  and  this  book,  I  come  back  to 
what  I  began  with.  If  the  British  public,  the  employers  of 
the  British  architect,  insist  on  learning  and  beauty,  whether 
Gothic  or  Palladian,  or  Grecian,  it  daily  becomes  more  likely 
that  they  will  get  it.  But,  if  they  profess  not  to  care,  we 
may  go  on  as  at  present  with  cathedrals  like  Truro,  with 
palaces  like  Buckingham  Palace,  and  with  private  houses  like 
Grosvencr  Place. 


D.    H.    Mi»-1-    LJBRARY 
North  Carolina  State  Colleg* 


INDEX 


Abraham,  Robert,  273 

Adam,  R.,  242 

Alban,  St.,  187,  212 

Albert  Memorial,  6,  24 

Alcove  at  Kensington,  163,  172 

Allen,  Ralph,  249 

All  Hallows,  Bread  Street,  160,  1S4 

All  Hallows,  Thames  Street,  184 

All  Souls'  College,  35,  220 

Almerico  Palace,  101 

Alphage,  St.,  227 

Amesbury,  139 

"An  arch  never  sleeps,"  19 

Anne  Boleyn,  45 

Anne  of  Cleves,  45,  80 

Anne  of  Denmark,  46,   i  i  5 

"Anne,  Queen,"  style,  164,  168,  171, 

172,  279 
Anomalous  style,  12 
Antholin,  St.,  180,  211 
Arch  Row,  I  2  i 
Archer,  227 

Architecture,  modern,  3,   15,  279 
Arundel,  Thomas  Howard,  Earl  of,   113 
Ashbumham  House,  iio,  135 
"Athenian"   Stuart,  261 
Aubrey,  68 
Audley  End,  55,  63 

Baldwin,  249 
Bank,  the,  245 
2  O 


Banqueting  House,  Whitehall,  iio,  122, 

128 
Barry,  Sir  C,  4,  250 
Basevi,  267 

Bath,  36,  228,  246,  249 
Bayswater  Road,  houses  in,  9 
Benet,  St.,  135,  144 
Bernini,  157 
Blomfield,  Mr.  Reginald,  quoted,  59,  67, 

144 
Borley,  83 

Bradford-on-Avon,  64 
Bray,  15,  23,  24 
Bride's,  St.,  202 
British  Museum,  268 
Browne,  Sir  Anthony,  83 
Brympton,  97,  139 
Burges,  W.,   34,  197 
Burghley,  73.  75 
Burlington,  Earl  of,  8,  140,  144,  215, 

228 
Burton,  D.,  273 

Caius  College,  87,  92 
Cambridge,  11,  87,  139,  152 
Campbell,  C,  215,  22S,  230 
Canova,  204,  209 
Canterbury,  20 
Carlton  Club,  253 
Chambers,  Sir  W.,  105,  233,  241 
Chancellor,  Mr.,  83 


282 


Modem  ArcJiitectiwe  in  England 


Charles,  Plymouth,  40 

Charles  I.,  127 

Charles  II.,  171,  194,  198 

Charlton,  1 39,   1 70 

Chelsea,  167 

Cheshire  Houses,  71 

Chichester  Cathedral,  6 

Chiswick,  2 38 

Gibber,  C,  172 

Clark,  Mr.  J.  W.,  88 

Cobham,  52,  55,  63,  74,  139 

Coleshill,  140 

Collcutt,  Mr.,  12 

Cooley,  257 

Corsham,  Wilts,  39,  249 

Covent  Garden,  no,  132,  228 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  I  5  I 

Cromwell,  Thomas,  45 

Denham,  Sir  John,  152,  153 

Devonshire  collection,   109,  116,   144 

Dormer  Monuments,  83 

Dublin,  254,  261 

Duke's  House,  the,  64,  68 

Dunstan's,  St.,  21 1 

Durham,  20 

Elizabethan  Houses,  54 
Elmes,  204,  268,  273 
Ely,  Bishop  of,  36,  151,  152,  196 
Ely,  chapel  of  Bishop  West,  46 
Ely,  monuments  at,  83 

Fell,  Dean,  32 

Felstead,  83 

Fergusson,    James,    quoted,    125,     135, 

157,  207,  219 
Fletcher,  Professor,  quoted,  106 
Four  Courts,  Dublin,  257 
Fulmer,  40 


Galilee,  Durham,  20 

Galleries,  Wren's,  201 

Gandon,  James,  257,  261 

Garbett  on  design,  98 

George's,  St.,  Hall,  268 

Gibbons,  G.,  120,  210 

Gibbs,  James,  219,  227 

Glasgow,  254,  267 

Gloucester,  22 

Gotch,    Mr.,   on   Elizabethan    Buildings, 

52,  74,  75,  116 
Great  Chalfield,  36,  64 
Great  St.  Mary's,  35 
Greenwich,  139,  152,  158,  167,   170 
Gregory,  St,  131 
Gresham's  Exchange,  87 

H ADDON,  55,  59 

Halliday,  39 

Hampton  Court,  28,  33,  43,  96,  163,  171 

Hardwick,  97,  261 

Harewood,  241 

Haveus,  87,  92 

Hawksmoor,  28,  35,  171,  215,  219 

Haydocke,  93 

Henry  VII.,  3,  21,  79 

Henry  VIII.,  31,  72 

Heriot's  Hospital,  46,  115 

Holbein,  45 

Holkham,  233 

Holland  House,  Gate  of,  140 

Holt,  Thomas,  of  York,  31 

Honour,  Gate  of,  91 

Hungerford  Hospital,  39 

Hyde  Park  Comer,  273 

Inwood,  262 

James,  John,  227 
James  I.,  122,  126,  127 


Index 


283 


James's,  St.,  45 

Jewitt,  Mr.  O.,  quoted,  3 1 

John's,  St.,  Oxford,  32 

Jones,  Inigo,  at  Oxford,  32  ;  in  London, 

47;    birth,    113;    career,    116,     147; 

death,  143 

Katharine  Cree,  St.,  47,  131,  187 
Kenil worth,  72 

Kennington  and  Kensington,  139 
Kent,  Wilham,  215,  228,  233 
Kew  Gardens,  242,  273 
Kildare  Street,  Dubhn,  254,  261 
Kingston  House,  Bradford,  68 
Knole,  53,  59 

Lansdowne  House,  245 

Laud,  Archbishop,  47,  187 

Law,  Mr.  E.,  quoted,  43,  171 

Lawrence,  St.,  203 

Lichfield  Cathedral,  2  1 1 

Lincoln,  46 

Lincoln's  Inn,  241 

Lindsey  House,  iio,  121 

Liverpool,  253,  268 

Lomazzo,  93 

London,  modern  architecture  of,  7,  1 3, 273 

London,  Tower  of,  20,  44,  54 

Longland,  Bishop,  46 

Longleat,  71 

Lothbury  Court,  245 

Manchester,  12 
Marlborough  House,  163 
Marney,  Layer,  monuments  at,  80 
Martin,  St.,  in  the  Fields,  221 
Mary,  St.,  Abbots,  10 

,,        ,,      Abchurch,  210 

,,       ,,      Aldermary,  48,  179 

„       „     Great,  35 


Mary,  St.,  Le  Strand,  98,  221 
„      Somerset,  179,  203 
Matthew,  St.,  153 
Mildred,  St.,  209 
Monument,  163,  170 
Morden  College,  1  70 

Nevile's  Court,  155 
New  Law  Courts,  5 
Newcastle,  Duke  of,  222 
Nottingham  House,  1 39 

Opie,  John,  9,  160 

Orangery,  173 

Orders  of  Architecture,  1 00 

Ornament  out  of  place,  5 

Osyth,  St.,  83 

Oxford,  28,  32,  35,  115,  139,  154 

Oxford,  Lord  and  Lady,  222 

Padua,  John  of,  68,  73 

Palladio,  98,  99 

Pancras,  St.,  262 

Paris,  Wren  in,  i  56 

Parnell  and  Smith,  Messrs.,  253 

Paul's,  St.,  Cathedral,  187,  200 

,,         ,,     Covent  Garden,  131 

„         ,,     Old,  131 
Pembroke  College,  152 
Phillimore,  Miss,  quoted,  192 
Plymouth,  40 
Prior  Park,  249 
Proportion,  Palladian  rules  of,  105 

Queen  Anne  style,  164 
Queen's  Square,  Bath,  246 
Quincy,  Quatremere  de,  99,  1 1 3 

Ranger's  Lodge,  242 
Regent's  Park,  273 


284 


Modern  'A^rJiitecture  in  England 


Reredos  at  Whitehall,  1 3 1 
Rich  Memorial,  S3 
Roehampton,  242 
Rowe,  Sir  H.,  39 
Ruskin,  Mr.,  6 

Salisbury  Cathedral,  6 

Sansovino,  99,  253 

Savoy,  Chapel  Royal,  45 

Scott,  .Sir  G.  G.,  6,  32 

Sedding,  the  late  Mr.  John  D.,  i  5 

Sedding,  Mr.  Edmund  H.,  209 

Sheldonian  Theatre,  154 

Shelford,  Little,  92 

Soane,  Sir  John,  131,  136 

Solomon,  Song  of,  95 

Somerset  House,  121,  241 

Stephen's,  St.,  Wallbrook,  11,  204,  209 

Stevenson,  Mr.  J.  J.,  quoted,  22 

Stewart  monuments,  83 

Stone,  Nicholas,  121,  128,  140 

Strong,  Thomas  and  Edward,  164  ' 

Stucco,  reign  of,  273 

Swithin's,  St.,  211 

Taylor,  Mr.  Andrew,  quoted,  183,  184 

Taylor,  Sir  R.,  241,  245 

Temple  Bar,  1 70 

Temple,  Middle,  170 

Theobalds,  1 70 

Thorpe,  73,  92,  93 

Tom  Tower,  33,  159 


Torregiano,  44,  79 

Tower  of  London,  20,  44,  54 

Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  i  5  5 

,,  „         Dublin,  258 

„  „         Oxford,  155 

Tuscan  style,  105 

Vanbrugh,  169,  216,  219 
Van  Eyck,  94 
Vardy,  227 
Venice,  102 
Vernon,  Dorothy,  56 
Verona,  105 
Vicenza,  102 
Vitruvius,  102,  131 

Wade,  General,  228 
Wadham  College,  28 
Ware,  L,  234 
Webb,  J.,  143 
Westminster,  21,  28,  80 
Whitehall,   122,   129 
Widcombe,  109,  249 
Williams,  44 
Wolsey,  33 
Wood,  246 

Wraxall,  South,  23,  36,  53,  64,  84 
Wren,    Sir    Christopher,    34,    151,    212, 
219 

York,  Duke  of,  191,  193 
Young,  John,  44,  79 


THE    END. 


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